Measurement of velocity distribution for longitudinal acoustic waves in welds by a laser optoacoustic technique

An optoacoustic technique for diagnostics of residual stress in metals is proposed. The theoretical part of the technique employs acoustoelastic relations establishing a linear relationship between the biaxial residual stress and the relative variation of the velocity of longitudinal ultrasonic waves. The experimental technique is based on laser excitation of nanosecond ultrasonic pulses at the surface of samples under investigation and their detection with a high time resolution. Distributions of the relative variation of longitudinal wave velocities due to the presence of residual stress in the samples are obtained.