Application of laser-ultrasonics to texture measurements in metal processing

Abstract The paper describes in principle how information about textures can be obtained through the application of laser-ultrasonics (LUS) which can be carried out at elevated temperatures, for example in connection with hot rolling. The benefits from getting a measure of texture in this way are explained together with the proposed methodology which is based on the elastic anisotropic properties of the textured material. Measurements are made using only a single laser pulse and in real-time. Two approaches are presented to modelling the propagation of elastic waves, ray tracing and finite difference modelling. These give consistent results but the latter provides a more complete prediction of the ultrasonic spectrum that can be quantitatively related to measured signals through a cross-correlation procedure. Some experimental results are presented for room temperature measurements on a sheet of interstitial-free steel. Agreement between experimental data and modelling results is good and allows estimation of the 4th order coefficients of the orientation distribution function.