Opportunities for Nondestructive Evaluation: Quantitative Characterization (Postprint)

Abstract : Imagine finding a piece of material while out on a hike with family or friends in a local park. The material is unlike anything you have seen before and appears to be unique in the way it looks and feels. Your curiosity is triggered; what is this? Is it something of value that was lost by a previous hiker? Is it a small piece of a meteorite? Is it something a little more nefarious that requires alerting law enforcement? With a portable probe you are carrying in your pack, you touch the material and immediately a wealth of information becomes available: material type, composition, microstructure, properties, processing, history, and past use. Each value, including uncertainty bounds, provided by the portable instrument enables you to understand what you found. This approach to characterization was the basis for a line of questioning used by Robert Green of John Hopkins University (now retired) during oral qualifying exams for his doctoral students and illustrates the potential of using nondestructive testing-based (NDT) methods for quantitative characterization.