New method for diagnosing cast compactness based on laser ultrasonography

Technologically advanced materials, such as alloys of aluminum, nickel or titanium are currently used increasingly often in significantly loaded components utilized in the aviation industry, among others in the construction of jet turbine engine blades. The article presents a method for diagnosing the condition of the inside of cast blades with the use of laser ultrasonography. The inspection is based on finding hidden flaws with a size of between 10 and 30μm. Laser ultrasonography offers a number of improvements over the non-destructive methods used so far, e.g. the possibility to diagnose the cast on a selected depth, high signal-to-noise ratio and good sensitivity. The article includes a brief overview of non-destructive inspection methods used in foundry engineering and sample results of inspecting the inner structure of a turbo jet engine blade using the method described in the article.