Microstructure-ultrasonic inspectability relationships in Ti6242: Signal-to-noise in fine-grain-processed Ti6242

The ultrasonic behavior of titanium alloy Ti6242 was determined as a function of ultrasonic frequency and material microstructure. The signal-to-noise ratio for synthetic flaws machined in the Ti6242 blocks was strongly influenced by microstructural condition, particularly as it was defined by electron backscatter diffraction pattern (EBDP) analysis. Ti6242 blocks with a microstructure consisting of uniform, fine, texture-free αTi particles had signal-to-noise ratios about 20 dB greater than blocks with microstructures consisting of colonies of crystallographically aligned αTi particles.