Acousto-ultrasonics approach to the characterization of impact properties of a class of engineering materials

The acousto-ultrasonics approach is used for the nondestructive quantitative characterization of residual impact strength of a class of engineering materials, namely, polyvinylchloride (PVC). The material specimens, which present different levels of controlled low-energy repeated impact damage, were also evaluated destructively by falling weight impact and uniaxial tensile tests. The results of these destructive tests were used to correlate with and verify the predictive capability of the AU measurements. The values of the mean failure energy for the samples of specimens of the material, as obtained from falling weight impact tests, were found to correlate with the damage states of these samples, as measured by the applied number of controlled repeated impacts. Furthermore, the values of the so-called ‘acousto ultrasonics parameter’, characteristic of the retrieved AU signals, were found to correlate with the mean failure energy and ultimate tensile strength values that were obtained from the destructive tests. The obtained results indicate that characterization of the residual impact properties and the associated ultimate strength of the material can be made nondestructively by the acousto-ultrasonics approach.