Description:

A two dimensional graphical presentation, in which the discontinuity echoes are displayed in
a top view on the test surface. In the presentation, reflected pulses are shown as events. The
event marks represent the echo by different evaluations:
(1) echo exceeding a preset threshold within a gate, the drawn a mark (0/1 method).
(2) echo exceeding a preset threshold within a gate and the drawn color palette (or grayscale)
is proportional to the amplitude of the signal. This method is applied to pulse echo and
transmission techniques. Usually no indication of depth is given unless the complete scan
represents the time of flight evaluation (D-scan). Hence in computerized and more
sophisticated systems, due to digitalization and storaging, post processing is available for
displaying various kinds of presentations. The scan is reviewed by different evaluation
methods.
Illustrations:

C-scan principle

Introduction
Ultrasonic testing with straight beam probes is in wide practical use for many
purposes, such as thickness and corrosion measurements, finding internal defects in
the metallic and non-metallic objects, material characterization, etc. Sometime the
inspection may be implemented through the point by point probe apply to the object
under test followed by the reading and interpretation of the instrument indication,
however in most cases the total insonification of the object under test is required: the
operator must consistently scan the object observing the scanning plan and adequate
coupling while on-the-spot interpretation of the continuously varying indications
entire the scanning remains the decisive function to be observed if using the
conventional A-Scan ultrasonic instrument. It's a common understanding that the
recording facilities with off-line postrpocessing features must be used in order to
provide the necessary level of the inspection reliability

1. Principles of the C-Scan Presentation

Generally C-Scan represents the distribution of some informative parameter over the
top surface of the area of interest in the form of the projection map. It's obvious that
the B-Scan record representing the sectional views of the object under test may be
provided simultaneously with C-Scan [1,2]
For the straight beam inspection the top surface of the area of interest matches with
the scanning area while the informative parameter is defined by the inspection task
and so on by the way of the signals evaluation
1.1. Thickness Map
Thickness Map is the simplest C-Scan utilization. The example of the thickness data
capturing is presented below [3]:
A1B1C1D11 is the rectangle on the flat object to be
scanned to get the representation of the thickness
distribution. In accordance with the typical practice for
the straight beam inspection the gate matching with all
signals expected to be received must be provided.
Assuming that the minimal thickness of the object
under the scanning area Thmin is represented as A1A:
Thmin = A1A
and the maximal thickness Thmax is represented as AE
Thmax = AE
it's easy to conclude that the volume under test (Region
of Interest) is located between two parallel rectangles
namely ABCD and EFGH, while the gate must be
arranged to match with the echoes returned as from
both said rectangles as from any reflector in-between.
To simplify the explanation it is supposed that there are
two drills in the object under test made from it's bottom
surface, said drills have different diameters, coordinates

and depths of penetration into the Region of Interest

and ended by the flat bottoms each, so that:
Thmin < Y1 < Thmax
and
Thmin < Y1 <thmax </th

Based on the above assumptions the dynamic illustration (movie) reflecting the
consistent scanning and three-dimensional thickness data capturing and presentation
is available here
[704 KB].
It must be noted that according to the decision rule the first signal matching with the
gate is to be taken into account for the thickness determining while all other signals
are ignored. Hence even the seizeable backwall echo received from the surface EFGH
is ignored if receiving a signal coming earlier

1 - Current probe position above the reflector Q1 and corresponding A-Scan 2; 3 - echo from the reflector Q1 and
representation of the corresponding thickness Y1 in the sectional Side and End views 4 (B- and D- Scan) and in the Top
view 5 (C-Scan); 6 - back-wall echo and representation of the object's thickness in the sectional views 7 and Top view 8

There are two ways of representing the sectional views of the object under test:
o The Integrative Way: for the above example the Side view represented by the
integrative way comprises the superimposed images of all parallel planes
located between the rectangles ABFE and DCGH and the End view
comprises the superimposed images of all parallel planes located between the
rectangles ADHE and BCGF . The overwriting rule is applied for

superimposing the planes - the "lowest thickness" segment of the sectional

image overwrites all parallel segments with the higher the thickness
o The Differential way: to implement such way of visualization the captured
data must be stored in the form of 3D matrix, allowing to designate the
necessary sections and provide their representation independently on other
sections
The today's imaging devices allow both Integrative and Differential sectional viewing
entire the scanning and off-line [3]

1 -Integrative sectional viewing; 2 - 4 - Differential sectional viewing: the thickness profile is shown for the sections
designated as DdCdGdHd and AdDdEdHd

1.2. Volumetric Multi-Echo Mapping

If inspecting the base material there is a need to record all signals received entire the
scanning (Multi-Echo processing) [3]. For each signal the appropriate imaging must
be provided showing both reflector's location and echo amplitude. Based on the same
assumptions as above for the thickness mapping and profile representation the
dynamic illustration (movie) reflecting the consistent scanning and three-dimensional
multi-echo data capturing and presentation is available here
[690 KB].

1 - Current probe position above the reflector Q1 and corresponding A-Scan 2; 3 - echo from the reflector Q1 and
representation of the reflector Q1 in the sectional Side and End views 4 (B- and D- Scan) and in the Top view 5 (CScan); 6 - back-wall echo and representation of the object's back surface in the sectional views 7 and Top view 8

There are two palettes are available for the representing of the Top View (C-Scan):
Amplitude Palette and Depth Palette and there are two ways of representing the CScan - Integrative and Differential

1 - Integrative C-Scan viewing - Depth Palette (the lowest depth overwrites higher depth values); 2 - Integrative
viewing C-Scan viewing - Amplitude Palette (the highest amplitude overwrites lower amplitude values, for the flat
objects the back echo often dominates having the higher echo then the echoes received from the compact or semitransparent defects); 3,4 - Differential C-Scan viewing - Amplitude Palette: representation of the reflectors matching
with the designated slice AsBsCsDs

For the sectional viewing the Integrative and Differential ways are available:

1 -Integrative sectional viewing - Amplitude Palette (the highest amplitude overwrites lower amplitude values); 2 - 4 Differential sectional viewing - Amplitude Palette: representation of the reflectors matching with the sections
designated as DdCdGdHd and AdDdEdHd

The today's imaging devices allow both Integrative and Differential sectional viewing
and C-Scan presentation either at Amplitude or Depth palette entire the scanning and
off-line [3]
1.3. Other Imaging Protocols
There are cases when the amplitude and time of flight of the single signals do not
reflect the quality of the object under test however if processing the whole A-Scan as
a time-domain function F(t) captured at the each point of the probe trace then it is
possible to find the mathematical solution that will allow the object characterization.
For such case so called F-Scans may be created representing the distribution of the
mathematically resolved value(s) over the top surface of the area of interest. F-Scans
are utilized as C-Scan-like records and in most cases there is no need in the
simultaneous B-Scan-like recording. The F-Scan is the proprietary image that may be
explained based on the specific application example only (see below F-Scan example)

2. Probe location monitor

The C-Scan imaging accompanied with the sectional viewing may be implemented as
true-to-location procedure only. Such procedure requires the use of the probe location
means and processing of the received signals simultaneously with the probes
coordinates. For the manual probe manipulation it's reasonable to implement the nonmechanical determining of the probe coordinates on the object under test - this does
not affect the convenient probe manipulations. The airborne ultrasound may be used
for such purpose:

Principles of the Probe Location using the Airborne Ultrasound Location

Signals of the emitter 1 of airborne ultrasound fitted onto the top of the
probe are captured by the receivers 2, which may be placed either on the
object under test 3 or close to the object under test 3 nearby scanning area.
The described way of probe location is suitable for the flat surfaces and for
the spherical and cylindrical surfaces with curvature radius above 25-35
mm. The curved objects are regularly scanned in few sequent shots
Sometimes the use of the additional third airborne ultrasound receiver is
necessary for:
o

covering in one shot the large areas exceeding 0.5 x 0.5 m

randomly curved scanning surface

etc

The today's equipment using the airborne ultrasound location provides the resolution
of 0.25 mm for the one-shot scanning areas up to 20 x 20 cm and 1 mm for the larger
scanning areas (up to 2 x 3 m), immunity to the wind and ambient noise and the
compensation of the airborne ultrasound velocity deviations caused by the varying of
temperature, humidity and other factors [3 - 5]

3. Scanning examples
3.1. Thickness Mapping - Scanning of the Flat Metallic Piece
The dynamical illustration (movie) reflecting manual scanning, airborne ultrasound
location and three-dimensional thickness data capturing and presentation is available
here
[1,144 KB].
3.2. Volumetric Multi-Echo Mapping - Scanning of the Composite Part
The example below represents the results of scanning of the stepped composite test
block with the implanted delaminations. The C- and B-Scan are accompanied with the
three-dimensional image of the test block that is obtained off-line after the
transforming the captured data matrix into the Excel-spreadsheet

3.3. F-Scan: Inspection and Mapping of the Metal Glass Lining

The inspection of the glass lining is the typical example illustrating the F-Scan data
presentation based on the frequency domain analysis of the echoes received from the
lined surface [6]
Mapping of the metal glass lining - scanning above the metal side:
1 - current A-Scan; 2 - scanning surface; 3 - mirrored photo of the glass
lining side with the natural and artificial flaws; 4 - glass lining map S( )-scan - obtained through the frequency domain signal processing;
5 - color scale (palette) representing the glass lining grades

References
1. Non-destructive Testing Encyclopedia at www.ndt.net
www.ndt.net/article/az/ut/csc.htm
2. Non-destructive Testing Encyclopedia at www.ndt.net
www.ndt.net/article/az/ut/bsc.htm
3. ISONIC Workstation from Sonotron NDT - A Number of Smart Inspection
Systems In One Portable Unit - Operating Manual revision 7.00
www.sonotronndt.com/pdf/opman70.pdf
4. Portable Workstation for Ultrasonic Weld Inspection. - 15th World Conference
on Non destructive testing, Rome, October 15-21, 2000. Book of abstracts,
p.485. The full text available at the 15th WCNDT CD ROM or as Internet
Publication www.ndt.net/article/wcndt00/papers/idn695/idn695.htm, first
issued November, 2000 /// M.Kritsky, V.Moshkovich, A.Passi, G.Passi,
M.Berke, W.-D.Kleinert, J.Reinersmann, U.Schlengerman, K.Volkmann

5. Bond Testing and Mapping System for Concorde's Flying Surfaces. - 15th
World Conference on Non destructive testing, Rome, October 15-21, 2000.
Book of abstracts, p.29. The full text available at the 15th WCNDT CD ROM
or as Internet Publication
www.ndt.net/article/wcndt00/papers/idn692/idn692.htm, first issued
November, 2000 and www.ndt.net/article/v05n09/passi/passi.htm, first issued
September, 2000
6. Ultrasonic Inspection and Mapping of Internal Glass Coating in Reservoirs
and Reactors. - 15th World Conference on Non destructive testing, Rome,
October 15-21, 2000. Book of abstracts, p.279. The full text available at the
15th WCNDT CD ROM or as Internet Publication
www.ndt.net/article/wcndt00/papers/idn691/idn691.htm, first issued
November, 2000 A.Golden, V.Moshkovich, A.Passi, G.Passi, R.Safin