Ultrasonic inspection method and system for detecting critical flaws

The invention relates to titanium inspection methods and systems. In particular, the invention relates to methods and systems for inspecting titanium using ultrasonic energy in which the detection of flaws that may be critical to applications of the titanium material is enhanced. An ultrasonic inspection method for inspecting titanium material is provided. The ultrasonic inspection method is capable of detecting critical flaws in the titanium material that may limit titanium material applications. The ultrasonic inspection method comprises fixing at least one of frequency or acoustic entity size of the titanium material as a constant for the ultrasonic inspecting; wherein the frequency that is fixed is selected based on the size of the flaws deemed critical for mechanical performance-including fatigue performance-in the titanium material, and the grain size that is fixed selected based on the size of the flaws deemed critical for mechanical performance-including fatigue performance-in the titanium material; ultrasonic inspecting the titanium material in which the step of ultrasonic inspecting the titanium material generates scattering from microstructural characteristics and features of the titanium material; detecting generated scattering; characterizing the type of detected scattering; and determining if the titanium material comprises critical flaws based on the type of scattering. If the scattering comprises predominantly Rayleigh scattering, the step of determining determines that the titanium material comprises uniform-fine grain titanium, however, if the scattering comprises Rayleigh scattering and other types of scattering, the step of determining determines that the titanium material may comprise critical flaws that may limit applications of the titanium material. The invention also provides a system for implementing the method, as embodied by the invention.