A View of the Need and Technologies for in-Process Materials Property Evaluation

Abstract

The productivity of industry from basic production of raw metallic shapes through fabrication of components and manufacture of multi-component structures would be greatly enhanced by constant and thorough interrogation of the relevant properties of the material. However, even though great strides have been made in interrogation technologies, for example, nondestructive detection of cracks and voids in components, sparse practical progress has been made in nondestructive interrogation for material property measurement. Advancements in this field will be of great benefit, but the lack of broadly multi-disciplinary and multi-technique research has been lacking. Further, the need and possibilities of success of broader approaches seem ripe for exploitation. This paper is concerned with the need and application of techniques for nondestructive, in-process measurement of metallic properties. The investigation has reviewed a broad spectrum of interrogating energies, means to apply them, the effect of the energy on the propagating media (metallic component), and the effect of various types of metallic media on the propagating energy. Several systems consisting of a combination of technologies have been identified as promising and one concept of teamed techniques will be described.