Generalized Matched Filter for Clutter Suppression in Cast Austenitic Stainless Steel Welds

This research investigated ultrasonic pulsers and signal processing techniques to improve ultrasonic testing (UT) data quality on metallic materials which are challenging to inspect using UT. Examples of challenging components for inspection are piping welds that are limited to single-side access, or components produced from dissimilar metals or coarse grains such as cast austenitic stainless steel (CASS). An arbitrary waveform generator was used to produce a linear sine-sweep signal, commonly referred to as a chirp signal, and was post-processed using a pulse compression technique. Results are qualitatively and quantitatively compared to determine if improvements were made in UT data quality.