Study of acoustic emission sources and signals

Abstract

Methods of acoustic emission (AE) signal analysis give information about material conditions, since AE generated in stressed solids can be used to indicate cracks and defect positions so as their damaging potential. We present a review of results of laboratory AE tests on metallic materials. Rings of seamless steel tubes, with and without oxide layers, were cut and then deformed by opening their ends. Seamless Zry-4 tubes were submitted to hydraulic stress tests until rupture with a purposely-constructed hydraulic system. In burst type signals, their parameters, Amplitude (A), Duration (D) and Risetime (R), were statistically studied. Amplitudes were found to follow the Log-normal distribution. This led to infer that the detected AE signal, is the complex consequence of a great number of random independent sources, which individual effects are linked. We could show, using cluster analysis for A, D and R mean values, with 5 clusters, coincidence between the clusters and the test types. A slight linear correlation was obtained for the parameters A and D. The arrival time of the AE signals was also studied, which conducted to discussing Poisson and Polya processes. The digitized signals were studied as (1/f)β noises. The general results are coherent if we consider the AE phenomena in the frame of Self Organized Criticality theory.