Additive manufacturing (AM) is becoming increasing popular owing to its ability to manufacture geometrically complex parts and produce customer-designed parts faster than traditional machining. One of the challenges of creating high quality AM parts is that the AM process often produces defects that are difficult to detect. A number of techniques have been used to evaluate the quality of AM parts, such as traditional ultrasonic testing and x-ray micro computed tomography (micro-CT) scans. These methods are not ideal, as traditional ultrasonic testing can require multiple tests to evaluate the entire part, while micro-CT has difficulty detecting small defects in large parts. Resonance-based ultrasonic methods have the advantage of only requiring one testing configuration to evaluate the entire part. Nonlinear resonance ultrasound spectroscopy (NRUS) is a resonance-based nondestructive testing (NDT) technique for material characterization that is especially sensitive to small-scale imperfections such as microscopic cracks. Previous NRUS tests have shown correlations between the parameters measured by NRUS and the fatigue life (fatigue endurance) of a small set of samples, indicating the potential of NRUS for evaluating the build quality of AM parts as related to their performance. However, these measurements on AM metals show large variability due to the experimental setup used. Typical NRUS tests involve bonding the sample to an excitation source that induces vibration in the sample. Unfortunately, the bonding introduces artifacts in the measurements leading to the observed large measurement variability. In this study, we seek to evaluate the use of non-contact excitation sources for NRUS testing with the goal of improving the measurement repeatability. We compare the NRUS measurements using contact and non-contact excitations on wrought and AM 316L stainless steel samples with several different heat treatments. This study suggests the improved repeatability of linear resonance frequency measurements when using an air-coupled transducer. However, the intensity of resulting excitations is not sufficient for NRUS measurements, which require higher excitation voltages. We propose two additional approaches for non-contact NRUS measurements: one using a high-power laser and the other using an air cavity.

This paper describes resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) as a powerful and established technique for measuring elastic constants of a material with general anisotropy. The first step of this technique consists of extracting resonance frequencies and damping from the vibrational frequency spectrum measured on a sample with free boundary conditions. An inversion technique is then used to retrieve the elastic tensor from the measured resonance frequencies. As originally developed, RUS has been mostly applicable to (i) materials with small damping such that the resonances of the sample are well separated and (ii) samples with simple geometries for which analytical solutions exist. In this paper, these limitations are addressed with a new RUS approach adapted to materials with high damping and samples of arbitrary geometry. Resonances are extracted by fitting a sum of exponentially damped sinusoids to the measured frequency spectrum. The inversion of the elastic tensor is achieved with a genetic algorithm, which allows searching for a global minimum within a discrete and relatively wide solution space. First, the accuracy of the proposed approach is evaluated against numerical data simulated for samples with isotropic symmetry and transversely isotropic symmetry. Subsequently, the applicability of the approach is demonstrated using experimental data collected on a composite structure consisting of a cylindrical sample of Berea sandstone glued to a large piezoelectric disk. In the proposed experiments, RUS is further enhanced by the use of a 3-D laser vibrometer allowing the visualization of most of the modes in the frequency band studied.

The field of additive manufacturing has seen explosive growth in recent years due largely in part to renewed interest from the manufacturing sector. Conceptually, additive manufacturing, or industrial 3D printing, is a way to build parts without using any part-specific tooling or dies from the computer-aided design (CAD) file of the part. Today, mo

The objective of this thesis is to validate Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS) as a non-destructive evaluation tool that can be used to study effects of radiation on the mechanical properties of a material, mainly its elastic constants. RUS involves experimentally measuring the resonant frequencies of a sample and calculating the elastic constants based on these measurements. Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to get the frequencies of the modes of free vibration for the sample model. This result depends on the elastic constant values used in the FEM simulation. Studies were conducted to confirm the accuracy of the FEM model, and determine the right configuration and parameters to use for the simulation. Assuming uniform and isotropic elastic property changes, the effects of radiation damage can be quantified by obtaining a set of matching resonant frequencies between the experimental and FEM simulation results, before and after irradiating the sample. This is done by adjusting the elastic constant values used in the simulation so that the results match with the experimentally obtained resonant frequencies. With powerful enough equipment, even real time monitoring is possible in harsh environments, thus pointing out imminent failure.

The goal of this dissertation is to elastically characterize thermoelectrics and other novel materials using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) at elevated temperatures. A "direct-contact" transducer system with test sample in direct contact with the piezoelectric elements was developed. This new transducer system with improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the conventional buffer-rod system were used for elasticity measurements and phase transition studies. The temperature dependent elastic moduli of thermoelectric materials of four nanostructured polycrystalline silicon-germanium (SiGe) samples were obtained up to 950°C. Abnormal elastic behavior (stiffening) in the temperature range of 350-550°C was observed in the two n-doped SiGe samples, which is associated with dopant (phosphorus) precipitation. The elastic moduli of the complex Zintl phase Yb 14 MnSb 11 were also measured up to 600°C. Using the quick "mode-tracking" method, the various temperature-induced phase transitions in Yb 14 MnSb 11, transition metal oxide LuFe 2 O 4 and bulk metallic glass Zr 50 Cu 31 Pd 9 Al 10 were investigated. In addition to the high-temperature RUS measurements, the continuum elastic model in RUS was also applied to numerically study several lower normal modes of vibration in carbon nanotubes (CNTs).

Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS) has been used successfully to determine the elastic properties of single crystal and homogeneous materials. We have attempted to answer the following question. Under what conditions is RUS a useful tool for determining the moduli of macroscopic, inhomogeneous samples. We concentrated on identifying a sample geometry that will maximize success with RUS. The work consisted of numerical modeling of sample resonances under varying conditions, and empirical testing of rock samples. Numerical modeling and empirical testing indicate that RUS is a viable technique for characterizing the average isotropic elastic moduli of inhomogeneous materials, although larger RMS errors can be expected than for single crystal materials. Success with RUS can optimized by ensuring that the sample size is large compared to the scale of inhomogeneity and by using a high aspect ratio parallelepiped sample.

This book provides tabular and text data relating to normal and diseased tissue materials and materials used in medical devices. Comprehensive and practical for students, researchers, engineers, and practicing physicians who use implants, this book considers the materials aspects of both implantable materials and natural tissues and fluids. Examples of materials and topics covered include titanium, elastomers, degradable biomaterials, composites, scaffold materials for tissue engineering, dental implants, sterilization effects on material properties, metallic alloys, and much more. Each chapter author considers the intrinsic and interactive properties of biomaterials, as well as their appropriate applications and historical contexts. Now in an updated second edition, this book also contains two new chapters on the cornea and on vocal folds, as well as updated insights, data, and citations for several chapters.