Do You Need More Signal and Less Noise In Your Ultrasonic Inspections?
Echo Z+™ & Signal™
- Are you using ultrasound to inspect fiberglass, rough surfaces, or bar stock?
- Are you using a 10 MHz or higher phased array?
- Are you inspecting with a 5MHz or higher pencil probe?
A higher acoustic impedance couplant can often ensure optimal sound wave energy transmission and minimal loss, maximizing signal-to-noise ratio, efficiency, and ensuring proper data collection. As the acoustic impedance of the couplant increases, transmission increases and noise decreases.
Echo Ultrasonics offers Echo Z+™ and Signal™ high acoustic impedance couplants for ultrasonic testing to meet a range of applications and needs. Echo Z+™ and Signal™ couplants have been proven to improve transmission signals and reduce noise, producing reliable ultrasonic inspections.
4 Benefits of High Acoustic Impedance UT Couplants
High acoustic impedance couplants work to control the difficulties presented by test objects with rough surfaces, corroded surfaces, or curved shapes. High acoustic impedance couplants provide the following four benefits during the UT process:
- Minimizing Reflection: Couplants with higher acoustic impedance values help reduce reflection at the interface between the transducer and the test object, improving the signal-to-noise ratio by transmitting more of the energy between the test object and the transducer.
- Maximizing Transmission: By reducing reflection, a couplant with a higher acoustic impedance ensures that a larger portion of the ultrasound energy is transmitted into the material being tested. This allows for better penetration of the sound waves and improved imaging or inspection capabilities. A couplant with a higher acoustic impedance is even better when using a transducer with a frequency above 5 MHz.
- Attenuation: The material being inspected absorbs and scatters ultrasound energy as it travels through it, a phenomenon known as attenuation. Higher frequencies are more easily attenuated than lower frequencies, especially in materials with high sound scattering properties like coarse grain cast metals.
- Improving Signal Quality: Efficient transmission of sound waves leads to a stronger signal returning to the transducer, which translates to a better signal-to-noise ratio. This means the ultrasound image or inspection results will be clearer and more accurate.
Echo Ultrasonic’s high acoustic impedance UT couplants are ideal for UT applications including:
- Castings
- Rough Bar Stock
- Fiberglass
- Corroded Surfaces
- Concrete
- Ceramics
- Brick
- Pipes and Tubes with Tight Curves or Rough Surfaces
Echo Ultrasonic’s primary high acoustic couplants are Signal™ and Echo Z+™. Both offer a higher acoustic impedance than other ultrasonic couplants. Below is a breakdown of each couplant to help you understand which is best for your specific UT testing applications.
Echo Ultrasonic’s Signal™ High Acoustic Impedance Couplant
Signal™ high acoustic impedance couplant has a 2.09 MRayls acoustic impedance rating and is ideal for UT applications inspecting rough surfaces such as castings, rough bar stock, and fiberglass.
Signal™ is a water-based couplant that has a medium flowable gel viscosity, allowing it to remain in place for overhead and vertical surface testing. The couplant is slow drying and water-soluble for efficient and simplified cleaning once testing is complete.
Echo Ultrasonic’s Echo Z+™ High Acoustic Impedance Couplant
Our specialized Echo Z+™ high acoustic impedance couplant offers the highest acoustic impedance rating at 3.7 MRayls, making it ideal for UT testing applications where the test object is extremely rough, pitted, corroded, or is tightly curved.
The Echo Z+™ couplant is the best choice for pencil point inspections, allowing for the transducer to be placed in a test material’s pit and maximizing the sound transmission in that pit. Echo Z+™ is available in low, medium, high, and very high viscosities for various applications.
Choose the couplant that is best for your application!
Have questions about which couplant is right for your UT process? Contact us today!