Microwave and millimeter-wave non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E) is generally understood to mean using high-frequency electromagnetic energy to inspect and characterize materials and structures. In spite of possessing some distinct advantages in certain applications to other NDT&E techniques, microwave NDT&E has only found compared limited practical application during the past 45 years. These advantages include lack of a need for contact between the sensor and the object being inspected, the ability to penetrate dielectric materials, and superior sensitivity to certain material constituents and flaws. One factor contributing to this minimal acceptance by the NDT &E community has been a generally poor understanding in this community of the theory and practice that underlie the technology. This situation exists partly because of a paucity of microwave NDT&E textbook and reference material. Some chapters, reviews, and books aimed at filling this need have been published in the past but, for the most part, this material is based on the use of older microwave technology. However, during the past ten years great strides have been made in ternlS of the cost, size, and ease of use of microwave components. In addition, recent advances in modeling and measurement techniques have expanded the range of applications for microwave NDT&E. Such applications include inspecting modern materials such as composites, detecting and characterizing surface flaws, and evaluating the compressive strength of cement structures. These advances have created an urgent need for up-to-date textbook material on this subject.

Contributed articles.

Materials Characterization Using Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Methods discusses NDT methods and how they are highly desirable for both long-term monitoring and short-term assessment of materials, providing crucial early warning that the fatigue life of a material has elapsed, thus helping to prevent service failures. Materials Characterization Using Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Methods gives an overview of established and new NDT techniques for the characterization of materials, with a focus on materials used in the automotive, aerospace, power plants, and infrastructure construction industries. Each chapter focuses on a different NDT technique and indicates the potential of the method by selected examples of applications. Methods covered include scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray microtomography and diffraction, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, microwave, and hybrid techniques. The authors review both the determination of microstructure properties, including phase content and grain size, and the determination of mechanical properties, such as hardness, toughness, yield strength, texture, and residual stress. Gives an overview of established and new NDT techniques, including scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray microtomography and diffraction, ultrasonic, electromagnetic, microwave, and hybrid techniques Reviews the determination of microstructural and mechanical properties Focuses on materials used in the automotive, aerospace, power plants, and infrastructure construction industries Serves as a highly desirable resource for both long-term monitoring and short-term assessment of materials

Microwave Imaging Methods and Applications provides practitioners and researchers with a complete overview of the latest and most important noninvasive and nondestructive techniques for inspecting structures and bodies by using microwaves. Placing emphasis on applications, the book considers many areas, from medical imaging and security… to industrial engineering and subsurface prospection. For each application, readers are presented with the objectives of the inspection and related challenges. Moreover, this groundbreaking resource details computational methods that can be used to solve inverse problems related to specific applications. Including clear examples or the most significant practical results, this forward-looking reference focuses on systems that have been recently developed. Professionals gain the knowledge needed to compare imaging methods used in different applications and develop new uses of imaging apparatuses and systems.