Composite ceramic-metal plates tested with flexural waves and holography

A method to determine weak or defective bonding areas within the brazed adjoining contact surfaces of composite ceramic-metal plates is proposed. The plates include voids, as well as hairline cracks in the ceramic layer, caused by the high-temperature brazing process. To detect these flaws, transient flexural waves are generated and transmitted through the plate by means of an attached piezoelectric transducer. These pulses are a narrow band signal generated in the time domain. The characteristic wavelengths corresponding to the narrow frequency spectrum may be larger than the size of the flaw. Dynamic holographic interferometry using a double-pulsed twin-cavity Nd:YAG laser, comprising two independent reference beams, was used to measure the response. The experimental interferograms (phase maps) coincide rather precisely with analytic results derived from Mindlin's plate equations (including effects of shear and rotary inertia).