Oblique angle pulse echo ultrasound for delamination characterization

Characterization of delamination fields in 3D for impact-damaged composites is necessary to achieve the USAF objective of damage tolerance for polymer matrix composites. Oblique angle pulse echo ultrasound inspection has been hypothesized as a potential technique to address this nondestructive characterization need, and modeling results presented last year support this hypothesis. Experimental results are presented showing that the received signals are much lower than predicted by the idealized model, and lower than could reasonably be detected without a priori knowledge of the delamination field. Reasons for this are presented and discussed.