An ultrasonic thickness gauge’s working principle is that the ultrasonic waves are used in measuring the thickness without damaging the material. Ultrasonic thickness measurement (UTM) can determine the thickness of a solid material.
Using an ultrasonic thickness gauge on ships and offshore has made working with hazardous materials safer and reliable. A steel thickness gauge measures parts and components.
However, this guide will tell you everything you need to know about the ultrasonic thickness gauge’s working principle.
A brief overview of the Ultrasonic thickness gauge working principle
In industrial manufacturing, ultrasonic thickness gauge’s working principles are often used to take continuous samples for measuring objects’ thickness. Mechanical contact measurement is used to ensure accuracy and standards are met, and all applicable standards are followed. The device is accurate enough to measure plastic films, sheets, membranes, and other materials in its range of application.
- Laser Thickness Gauge
The laser thickness gauge is a non-contact dynamic measuring device that measures and observes the micro-geometry of machines in mechanical manufacturing that are cut with lasers using the reflection principle of the laser.
- X-ray thickness gauge
Non-contact dynamic measurement equipment, such as an X-ray thickness gauge, can measure the thickness of a material by measuring variations in X-ray intensity across the thickness of the material.
- Ultrasonic Thickness Gauge
In this ultrasonic thickness gauge working principle, pulses are reflected by the probe when they are in contact with an object’s material through its surface. Once the pulses are reflected, the thickness of an object can be measured.
- Coating Thickness Gauge
The most common technique for measuring coating thickness is electromagnetic induction. A gauge is used to measure the coating thickness and a probe is placed on the object’s surface.
The magnetic resistance and inductance of the probe inevitably vary depending on the distance between the probe and the ferromagnetic material, as the behavior of the magnetic circuit varies with distance.
Operating principles and procedures
The transmission circuit, receiver, count display, and keypad from the heart of the ultrasonic thickness gauge. When considering the Ultrasonic thickness gauge working principle and procedures, the probe and the main motor are the two most important components.
As with measuring the main components of the device, measuring light waves follows the same method. Calculating the liquid crystal gauge’s thickness requires multiplying the propagation speed of a sound wave by half the time it takes for it to pass through the object.
The thickness value of a liquid crystal display is based on the propagation speed of a sound wave in an object multiplied by half the time it takes to pass through an object.
What can be measured?
By using the ultrasonic thickness gauge principle, it is possible to measure virtually any engineering material to a certain degree of accuracy, including metals, ceramics, glass, polymers, composites, and polymers.
It may be possible to measure specific layers or coatings in constructions with multiple layers, depending on the measurement requirement. It is possible to measure biological samples as well as fluid levels with ultrasound. Ultrasonic measurements do not require any cutting or sectioning, making them completely non-destructive.
A few examples of incompatible materials include wood, paper, concrete, and foam products. These materials lack sufficient permeability to high-frequency sound waves to allow ultrasonic measurement.
How do ultrasonic thickness gauges work, and what are they used for?
Sound energy can be generated by using a wide range of frequency bands. There is a maximum rate of twenty thousand cycles per second at which audible sound can be heard (20 kilohertz). An increase in frequency results in an increase in perceived pitch proportional to the increase in frequency.
In general, ultrasonic thickness gauge principle tests are conducted between 500 kHz and 20 kHz, while some specialized equipment can operate at 50 kHz or 100 kHz.
The time taken for a sound pulse to be reflected from a test piece’s inner or outer wall is measured by an ultrasonic transducer when a sound pulse is generated by the transducer and passes through the test piece. The sound waves are reflected off the edges of dissimilar materials, resulting in a “pulse/echo” mode for this type of measurement.
A piezoelectric element in the transducer generates a burst of ultrasonic waves when an electrical pulse is applied for a short period. When the sound waves strike a back wall or another boundary while traveling through the material, they are decoupled and retransmitted outside the substance. Transducers convert sound energy into electrical energy when the sound energy returns to them.
It’s like an echolocation device that listens to sounds from somewhere else. This occurrence usually lasts a few millionths of a second, an extremely short amount of time. This gauge, which uses a simple mathematical calculation to determine thickness, does so by measuring the sound propagation speed in the material.
The test material’s sound velocity is a significant consideration in this computation. Faster sound waves propagate through harder materials, whereas slower sound waves propagate through softer ones, and the speed of sound waves varies drastically with temperature. An ultrasonic thickness gauge is only as accurate as its calibration to the material’s speed of sound; hence its accuracy is limited to the material’s speed of sound.
Propylene glycol, glycerin, water, oil, and gel are some of the most frequent chemical compounds utilized in the food and beverage industry. Only a modest amount of material is required to fill the exceedingly small air gap that would otherwise occur.
Gauges are classified into several categories.
A commercial ultrasonic thickness gauge’s working principle can differ depending on its application. It can either be a corrosion gauge or a precision gauge. Ultrasonic gauging is crucial for measuring the thickness of corrosion-infested metals such as pipes, tanks, structural components, and pressure vessels, which are difficult to view from the structure’s exterior.
As a result, corrosion gauges employ signal processing techniques specifically tailored to this type of measurement. Dual-element transducers are used to achieve this goal.
If you are working with any other material than metal, you should only utilize precision gauges equipped with single-element transducers.
Precision gauges can measure to an accuracy of +/- 0.001″ (0.025mm) or better due to the wide variety of transducers available, as opposed to corrosion gauges, which can measure to an accuracy of +/- 0.001″ (0.025mm) (0.025 mm).
