Flaw detection close to the interface using ultrasonic echography

The detection of flaws by ultrasonic echography becomes difficult when the flaw is at a shallow depth. The time delay between the interface and flaw echos is less than the width of the impulse-response time of the transducer, and the flaw echo generally has an amplitude much smaller than the dominating interface echo. When the surface is not too rough, the interface echo can be assumed to be known, and its comparison with the signal interface and flaw echo permits the detection of the flaw. In this article it is shown that signal processing techniques allow small flaws to be detected very close to the surface (0.5 mm). Two methods are proposed, the first one is based on the minimization of the mean-square error, and the second on the spectral substraction of the two echos.This work has been supported by the French Ministry of Defense.