Inspection of Railcar Components
In collaboration with Amsted Rail, Inc., we have developed methods to improve the production of railcar bearings and wheels. Impurities within steel components can prove detrimental to their performance because they can act as stress concentrations that lead to crack initiations sites. These can potentially lead to catastrophic results.We have developed ultrasonic inspection protocols that are currently used by Amsted Rail – Brenco to improve their steel procurement process and to ensure their products are free of nonmetallic inclusions.
Ultrasonic stress measurement
This work began through the support of the Federal Research Administration and focused on the changes in ultrasonic scattering that occur due to changes in stress in a polycrystalline material, whether from applied loads or residual stress.
Microstructure Characterization
A majority of our ultrasonic scattering research is devoted to wave propagation through polycrystalline materials with various microstructures.Material microstructure is more complex than grain size alone and we are developing models of the complete scattering process so that ultrasonic measurements can be used to quantify grain size, grain elongation, grain microstructure (i.e., duplex) and material texture.
Biomedical Ultrasonics
Our biomedical research is devoted to two primary aspects: studies of waves through highly-scattering media such as skull bone and studies related to the influence of ultrasound on cell growth and development.