Ultrasound reflection tomography of cylindrical rods

A new technique has been developed for carrying out real-time ultrasound reflection tomography using cylindrically diverging beams with highly damped broadband probes. The carrier information of the pulse is dispensed with and only the peak of the rectified rf pulse and its corresponding time of arrival are used for the reconstruction. A simple deconvolution filter is applied to remove the blurring caused by simple backprojection. Experimental images show resolution of wavelength order in all directions. Phantom test objects have been correctly imaged. Images of real defects (voids and cracks) in polyester resin rod samples obtained using compression waves are presented.