Acoustic Emission Source Characterisation during Fatigue Crack Growth in Al 2024-T3 Specimens

Abstract

While acoustic emission (AE) testing can be used as a valuable technique in structural health monitoring and non-destructive testing, little research has been conducted to establish its sources, particularly in 2024-T3 aluminium alloys. The major contribution of this work is that it provides a method to obtain a better linear relationship of count rate with crack growth rate based on waveform. This paper aims to characterise AE sources by synchronising the AE waveforms with load levels and then to propose possible dominant frequency ranges. The AE waveforms during fatigue crack growth in edge-notched 2024-T3 aluminium specimens, from an initial crack length of 10 mm to 70 mm, were collected at two different load ratios R = 0.125 and 0.5. At the same time, the crack growth rate was determined using thermal imaging and associated control software. The AE waveforms obtained were processed using the fast Fourier transform. It was shown that a significantly higher AE count rate was recorded at R = 0.125 compared to R = 0.5 when the maximum load was kept the same. This means that the R-ratio would affect the total amount of AE activities collected. It was also found that the dominant frequency range of the AE waveforms directly related to crack growth was 152–487 kHz, and the ranges due to crack closure were likely to be 310 kHz–316 kHz and 500–700 kHz. Based on the proposed frequency ranges, waveform selection was conducted and a better linear relationship between count rate and crack growth rate was observed. This study provides a better understanding of the AE sources and waveforms for future structural health monitoring applications.

Modal Decomposition of Acoustic Emissions from Pencil-Lead Breaks in an Isotropic Thin Plate

“…Such emissions occur in metal, rock, cement, and composites [ 9 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Research has been undertaken on AEs generated during static tensile tests and fatigue tests of metallic material [ 8 , 10 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Fatigue Crack Growth in Hadfield Steel

“…Some studies mainly focused on the trend in AE parameters during the FCG process of materials. For instance, the duration of AE signals showed a significant increase of 600–900 cycles before the final failure of the aluminium plate during a tension–tension fatigue test [ 10 ]. On the other hand, various studies attempted to establish a correlation between the cumulated release of AE signals and crack length.…”

“…Meanwhile, the power-law dependence of AE count rate and energy rate on (Δ K ) during the stable FCG process was proved for various materials in previous studies. These relationships between AE parameters and Δ K have been established in steels, aluminium alloy, and magnesium alloy to make inferences about the remaining fatigue life [ 10 , 12 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”