See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/285913581

Laser-generated surface acoustic wave technique for crack monitoring - A

review

Article  in  International Journal of Automation Technology · March 2013

CITATIONS READS

4 195

6 authors, including:

Xing Fu Dante Jorge Dorantes-Gonzalez

Tianjin University MEF University
152 PUBLICATIONS   321 CITATIONS    32 PUBLICATIONS   68 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Sen Wu
Tianjin University
40 PUBLICATIONS   152 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

film measurement View project

Micro-structure optical measuring method View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Dante Jorge Dorantes-Gonzalez on 18 December 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.


Review:
Laser-Generated Surface Acoustic Wave Technique
for Crack Monitoring – A Review
Kun Chen1 , Xing Fu, Dante J. Dorantes-Gonzalez1 , Yanning Li, Sen Wu, and Xiaotang Hu
State Key Laboratory of Precision Measuring Technology and Instruments, Tianjin University
No.92, Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, P.R. China
E-mail: chenkun789@yahoo.cn, dorantes@tju.edu.cn
[Received January 6, 2013; accepted February 20, 2013]
In this paper, the principle of surface acoustic wave
techniques and their application to the monitoring
of cracks are presented and compared to other clas-
sic non-destructive techniques. A practical classifica-
tion of methods regarding the excitation and detec-
tion of surface acoustic waves is enumerated, among
them, laser-generated surface acoustic wave technique
is carefully analyzed as a prospective technique, and
two important detection methods using piezoelectric
and light deflection are described. Then, the strate-
gies and variables used in crack monitoring based on
laser-generated surface acoustic wave technique are
reviewed. To achieve the goal of quantitative detection
of cracks, most researchers use numerical models and
experiments to characterize main crack features. Dis-
cussions and prospective approaches for further quan-
titative monitoring of cracks are provided.
Keywords: surface acoustic wave, laser-generated, crack
monitoring, quantitative detection
1. Introduction
The evaluation of the integrity of materials is usually
required for industrial production and manufacturing. For
example, the evaluation of cracks in the surface of prod-
ucts such as electronic circuit components, MEMS de-
vices, and aircraft parts is especially important to ensure
their performance and safety. Cracks are usually dis-
tributed randomly and hard to find, and they expand and
deepen with time, greatly affecting the performance and
longevity of the materials [1–8].
Ultrasonic techniques have been widely used for moni-
toring purposes because of their non-destructive features.
Within them, the use of surface acoustic waves (SAW or
SAWs) has been a prospective technique for characteriz-
ing some nanomechanical properties, so its application to
monitor surface and sub-surface cracks has been attract-
ing more and more attention from researchers [4–8].
1. Corresponding Author
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.7 No.2, 2013
Laser-Generated Surface Acoustic Wave Technique
for Crack Monitoring – A Review
2. Non-Destructive Testing Techniques Appro-
priate for Surface Crack Monitoring
Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) is a wide group of
analysis techniques used in science and industry to eval-
uate materials, components, or systems without causing
damage, and these techniques are usually used for crack
monitoring [9, 10].
A comparison of classic NDT techniques used for crack
monitoring is shown in Table 1 [9–12]. Each technique
has its own particular advantages and limitations, which
are related to its fundamental working mechanisms. In
comparison with other NDT techniques, the SAW tech-
nique focuses on surface detection and is suitable for the
precision detection of changes on surfaces. In monitor-
ing surface details and properties, the SAW technique
has some advantages, such as wider material application
range than MT and ET, more precise than PT, and safer
than RT, thus making SAW a prospective technique.
A surface acoustic wave is an elastic wave, which prop-
agates along the surface, and its energy is concentrated
at the depth of approximately one wavelength within the
surface [13]. SAWs, also called Rayleigh waves, can be
used for surface characterization since the characteristics
of SAW propagation are directly related to the properties
of the material [14, 15]. Likewise, these elastic properties,
along with other variables, such as velocity, phase veloc-
ity, attenuation, transmission and reflection coefficients,
dispersion relations, etc., can be used to detect cracks in
solid materials [16–22].
3. Main Excitation and Detection Methods of
Surface Acoustic Waves
In this chapter, the main excitation and detection
methods of SAWs are given. As shown in Fig. 1,
SAW excitation methods can be classified by the
main source that produces the surface waves, such as
pulse laser excitation in the Laser-generated Surface
Acoustic Wave technique (LSAW) [23–25], InterDigi-
tal Transducer (IDT) [26, 27], PieZoelectric Transducer
(PZT) [28, 29] and ElectroMagnetic Acoustic Transducer
(EMAT) [30, 31]. On the other hand, the detection
211
Chen, K. et al.
Table 1. A comparison of non-destructive techniques appropriate for surface crack monitoring.
(a)
Fig. 1. Main excitation and detection methods of SAWs: (a) Excitation methods. (b) Detection methods.
methods include using pulse/continuous laser [23–25],
IDT [26, 27], PZT [16–18, 32], EMAT [33, 34], air-
coupling transducer [35, 36], and capacitance transducers
[37].
4. Laser-Generated Surface Acoustic Wave
Technique
Within the SAW techniques, the Laser-generated Sur-
face Acoustic Wave (LSAW) technique is a non-contact
and non-destructive technique, in which, as its name sug-
gests, surface waves are generated by a pulse laser. Since
White reported the generation of elastic waves in solid
materials by transient surface heating in 1963 [38], re-
212
(b)
searches on LSAW has continued up to the present. Pulse
laser, such as nitrogen laser and Nd: YAG laser is usu-
ally used converging into a point source or line source
to interact with a solid material [39–41]. The excita-
tion efficiency of SAWs is determined by the density and
rate of energy deposition of the laser radiation and the
material properties of the sample. The intensity of the
laser pulse should reach a certain value so that the local
strain of the sample, and consequently, an elastic wave is
mainly caused by local thermal expansion during temper-
ature rise, but this expansion is still within the elastic limit
of the sample, called thermoelastic regime. If the pulse
energy continues to rise, the area to be irradiated will start
to melt, this situation is called melting regime [39]. The
fundamental difference between thermoelastic and melt-
ing regimes is the intensity is strong enough to damage
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.7 No.2, 2013

Table 2. Characteristics of PVDF piezoelectric and light deflection detection technique.
the surface of the sample. LSAW for crack monitoring ap-
plication is usually used within the thermoelastic regime,
making this technique non-destructive.
LSAW detection methods can be categorized as op-
tical or non-optical detection. The optical detection
approaches include the interferometer method, laser
Doppler method, and light deflection method. The in-
terferometer method is a relatively mature method, it in-
cludes the main types of interferometers, such as the op-
tical heterodyne type [39], Michelson type [40], Fabry-
Perot type [41, 42], and Mach-Zehnder type [43]. The
advantage of interferometry is that it is able to obtain sig-
nals from the diffuse reflected light of rough, uneven and
low-reflectivity surfaces. The laser Doppler method [44]
uses a laser Doppler vibrometer to measure the vibration
caused by the propagation of SAWs. It has high sensi-
tivity, but its bandwidth is less than 40 MHz. The ac-
curacy of the final measurement is therefore seriously af-
fected because it cannot detect most of the high frequency
SAWs. The propagation of SAWs causes changes in the
shape of the sample surface, leading to the deflection of
the reflected light, and this deflection is the working prin-
ciple of the light deflection method. The light deflection
approach is an efficient method, with high detection sen-
sitivity and a short response time [23–25], as well as a
wide bandwidth of detection [45]. However, this method
is susceptible to noise-like power fluctuations, air convec-
tion and beam drift.
The non-optical detection approaches include ones us-
ing piezoelectric transducer and other transducers men-
tioned in Fig. 1(b). Within these approaches, the
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.7 No.2, 2013
Laser-Generated Surface Acoustic Wave Technique
for Crack Monitoring – A Review
piezoelectric transducer approach is the most commonly
used method. Piezoelectric transducers, such as piezo-
electric ceramic, piezoelectric crystal and piezoelectric
film [16–18, 32], usually require using a wedge to be im-
plemented. The use of PolyVinyliDene Fluoride (PVDF)
piezoelectric film is still one of the best ways of detect-
ing SAWs. The advantages of PVDF films are their high
accuracy and bandwidth of about 120 MHz, with some
components even reaching 300 MHz [46, 47]. The disad-
vantages of the piezoelectric detection are the ease with
which they contaminate the sample surface, their some-
what contact approach, and their difficulty of use in sam-
ples with complex geometries.
For a more detailed and accurate presentation of the de-
tection LSAW technique, two key methods have been se-
lected for comparison purposes: the light deflection tech-
nique, as an example of optical detection, and the PVDF
piezoelectric transducer technique, as an example of non-
optical detection. A detailed comparison of the main key
characteristics is presented in Table 2 [48]. For illustra-
tion and comparison purposes, Fig. 2 depicts the LSAW
system block diagram of an integrated PVDF piezoelec-
tric transducer and light deflection detection system [48].
Table 2 and Fig. 2 show that PVDF piezoelectric and
light deflection detection have their own intrinsic fea-
tures. The former uses more simple components, such
as a wedge piezoelectric probe and PVDF foil, to obtain
a reasonable performance. The latter has better repeata-
bility, and a better probe longevity, and it is suitable for a
wider range of sample materials.
213
Chen, K. et al.

Fig. 2. Setup schematic representation of PVDF piezoelectric and light deflection system.

5. Strategies and Variables Used for Crack

Monitoring
Typical surface/subsurface cracks which must be mon-
Fig. 3. Simplified models of cracks used in simulation:
itored can be classified as follows: single crack, includ-
1&2 - breaking crack, 3- closed crack, 4-subsurface crack,
ing breaking crack [49, 50]; closed crack [51, 52]; subsur-
5- oblique crack, 6- distributed cracks.
face crack [53, 54]; oblique crack [49, 55]; and distributed
cracks [53, 56]. Research studies usually establish simpli-
fied models to simulate the different crack characteristics,
as shown in Fig. 3.
A number of strategies based on LSAW have been
used to monitor of cracks. The methods can be divided
according to the position of the laser excitation source
with respect to the position of the crack: pulse-echo and
pitch-catch methods in the far-field (when the laser exci-
tation actuates at a certain distance from the crack loca-
tion) [53, 56–64], and the Scanning Laser Source (SLS) Fig. 4. Crack monitoring strategies.
method in the near-field (when the laser excitation actu-
ates within the crack location) [65, 66], as shown in Fig. 4.
When there is certain distance between the position of
the laser excitation source and the crack, researchers usu- tions between crack and SAW.
ally detect the cracks based on changes in the wave veloc- Tittmann et al. [58] estimating in 1978 the size of small
ity, intensity, and frequency characteristics of the reflected surface cracks based on SAW backward scattered inten-
or scattered waves (called pulse-echo) or in the transmit- sity, presented a simple model, based on optical diffrac-
ted or diffracted waves (called pitch-catch). The follow- tion theory, that uses wave velocity, frequency, and inten-
ing provides a description of the main approaches and the sity. They put forward a feasible model and achieved at
variables used to estimate crack characteristics. least rough results.
Viktorov et al. [57] noticing in 1967 that scattered Domarkas et al. [59] measured crack reflection versus
SAWs passed through a crack along the surface of an frequencies at normal incidence, postulating that when the
aluminum sample, proposed that the wave reflection and crack is a multiple of the half-wavelength, it acts as a res-
transmission coefficients, which are defined as the ampli- onator, tending to absorb energy. The length and depth
tude ratio of the reflected and transmitted signal to the resonances of the crack were observed and used to esti-
incident signal, could be useful in judging crack features. mate the crack length and depth correspondingly. They
Following this idea, researchers began to study the rela- obtained quantitative, albeit not very accurate, results.

214 Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.7 No.2, 2013


Tuan, Donald et al. [60, 61] used the boundary per-
turbation technique to distinguish the reflection of a
Rayleigh wave from a shallow groove in the surface of an
isotropic elastic half-space. They proved that using this
approach, better accuracy could be achieved.
Gautesen et al. [62] used a geometrical diffraction the-
ory applied to the wave fields generated by the diffrac-
tion of high-frequency waves from the cracks, and they
pointed out that some surface waves undergo mode-
conversion, changing into bulk waves when interacting
with the crack, so boundary conditions sometimes needed
to be considered in the experiments.
Hirao et al. [63] observed that the reflection coefficient
increases, and the transmission coefficient decreases with
the depth/wavelength ratio. The transit time of the trans-
mitted signal also linearly increases with this ratio. They
calculated the propagation coefficient by using the follow-
ing equations:
Cr (k) = 20 log[Sr (k)/S(k)]
Ct (k) = 20 log[St (k)/S(k)]
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1)
where Cr (k), Ct (k) is the reflection and transmission co-
efficient in dB, k is the wave number, spectrum S(k) is
given by the Fourier transform, and Sr (k), St (k) are the
spectrum of output signal.
Crane et al. [64] considering the scattering of low-
frequency elastic waves by a long crack in a plate, used the
reflection coefficient Eq. (2) to describe the crack length:
a2
R = π2 Φ . . . . . . . . . . . . (2)
λd
where R is the reflection coefficient, a is the half crack
length, λ is the wavelength, Φ is a correction factor, and
d is the half thickness of the plate. Finally, an appropri-
ate correction factor to fit their result was found, but its
applicable scope was somewhat narrow.
Paehler et al. [53] proposed the use of the phase veloc-
ity dispersion of transmitted waves and measured Young’s
modulus in different layers of the sample, observing that
the phase velocity decreases with the increase in the dam-
age density of the distributed cracks in wafer surfaces
damaged by ion etching. This led to the first step in the
measurement of distributed cracks.
Dorantes’ research team [56] confirmed the utility of
the phase velocity dispersion curves of transmitted waves
in the analysis of the characteristics of uniformly dis-
tributed cracks in a steel sample. Dispersion curve has
been normally used to measure Young’s modulus, but us-
ing it to analyze cracks is a promising insight that can be
very useful in further investigations.
We can see that the variables used for crack charac-
terization have been derived from three main aspects:
changes in the wave amplitude (e.g., the propagation co-
efficients), changes in the propagation time (e.g., transit
time), and changes in the wave frequency (e.g., phase ve-
locity and dispersion). It is worth mentioning that when
these variables are used to detect cracks, if the depth of
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.7 No.2, 2013
Laser-Generated Surface Acoustic Wave Technique
for Crack Monitoring – A Review
the crack is much shorter than the center wavelength of
the SAW, the wave changes will be difficult to track, since
most of the waves travel through the bottom of the crack
or get dispersed by mode-conversion [67, 68].
To further enhance crack monitoring ability, Achen-
bach’s research team proposed the Scanning Laser Source
technique (SLS) [65, 66]. This method depends on the in-
teraction between the excitation source and the crack, so,
when the laser source is very close to the crack or co-
incides with it, the intensity and spectrum of the wave
signal change significantly. This is due to the direct in-
teraction with the reflected waves from the crack, and
also to the fact that the laser-generated acoustic conditions
change when the laser source is very close to the crack re-
gion [67]. Based on this method, Cooney et al. [69] used
the distribution of displacement fields, detected by an
interferometric probe, to locate surface-breaking cracks
by means of the near-field intensification of the detected
ultrasonic signal in the vicinity of the crack. In addi-
tion, Dutton et al. [55] simulating the time and frequency
domain changes of the received signal from an oblique
crack, measured the changes and variations in amplitude
and frequency with crack angles of 40◦ , 45◦ , and 90◦ . It is
worth noting that the SLS technique is easily affected by
sample surface roughness and surface crack shape; more-
over, its efficiency is low when it is used to detect oblique
cracks [55, 67].
6. Towards a Quantitative Characterization of
Crack Key Features
Researchers have tried to conduct quantitative nonde-
structive characterization of crack key features, such as
depth, width, length, and orientation. However, the de-
velopment of practical and reliable LSAW technique still
remains a challenge [60–70]. Regarding this, numeri-
cal models are used to obtain quantitative measurements
of cracks by parametrically studying the changes related
to variations in the size parameters (usually depth and
width) of SAW amplitudes/frequencies before or behind
a crack. When a connection is found between an am-
plitude/frequency change and a specific size parameter,
a simple linear relation is deduced. This relation can in
turn be used to extract the parameter value through the
measurement of SAW amplitude/frequency signals. Ex-
perimental and theoretical studies are subsequently used
to validate model predictions on crack size parameters.
Though the simulation of numerical models has been
interested and studied by many researchers, most simula-
tions are still represented as numerical models for qualita-
tively detecting crack characteristics by means of LSAW
technique [60–69]. Even though some works have pre-
sented numerical relationships between surface waves and
crack features, only a few researchers have found basic
quantitative relationships, which are discussed below.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, by using SAWs,
Tittmann et al. [58] estimated, with an accuracy of about
10%, the size of surface cracks as small as 100 microns
215
Chen, K. et al.
in radius. Domarkas et al. [59] observed the length and
depth resonances of a crack, estimating its geometry with
accuracy in the range of 10 − 20%. These two teams pro-
posed early methods of quantitative crack detection and
got final results albeit somewhat inaccurate ones.
Donskoy et al. [71] proposed a modulation technique
to expand and enhance the efficiency of nondestructive
testing and the characterization of idealized crack depth
models. This they did by providing discriminating and
quantitative capabilities. A sophisticated algorithm was
proposed to yield a number, which could be correlated to
the crack parameters yet independent of the applied mag-
nitudes of vibrations and waves. However, this algorithm
could only be used in a small range.
Cerniglia et al. [54] suggested the usefulness of finding
an approximate linear relationship between the peak-to-
peak wave amplitude, and the width of a man-made crack.
Though their idea was simple, the experiments required
knowledge of the parameters of the subsurface crack be-
forehand, but they successfully found a linear relationship
and produced quantitative results.
Matsuda et al. [49] pushed forward the quantitative de-
tection of cracks by evaluating, with accuracies of about
0.2 mm, the positions and depths of artificial cracks in
noisy environments by means of LSAW precision detec-
tion. They considered the crack orientation angle as well.
The relationships used were the following:
L = VR (TR2 − TR1 )/2, D = VR (TR f − TRn )/2
 
−1 (TR−S1 − ΔT /2) VS ΔT
2 2
TRn
θ = sin − −
TRn ΔTVR2 ΔT 4TRn
ΔT = TR f − TRn
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3)
where L is the distance between the detection point and
the crack, VR is the Rayleigh wave velocity, TR1 and TR2
indicate the arrival times of generated and reflected waves,
respectively. D is the depth of crack, TR f is the arrival time
of the wave traveling along the crack from its far edge, and
TRn is the arrival time of the wave from the nearby edge,
propagated directly to the detection point. θ is the orien-
tation angle of crack, TR−S1 is the arrival time of the shear
wave, and VS is the shear wave velocity. Their experiment
and results prove a good guide to the accurate detection
and characterization of cracks.
Longo et al. [44] obtained a large number of indepen-
dent measurements of transmitted and reflected surface
waves by laser Doppler vibrometry, with which to build
a linear model for estimating crack depths of 0.2 − 1 mm
on a steel beam. They obtained the best accuracies, up
to 95%, when crack depths were approximately 0.4 mm.
This method required large quantities of measurement
data for the formation of the database, but it is suitable
for practical applications in industry.
Blackshire et al. [50] measuring surface-breaking crack
depths from 300 μ m to 450 μ m, observed an approximate
linear trend for crack depth to wavelength ratios of 0.1 to
216
0.8 as follows:
d = C1 (λR (NFratio +C2 )) . . . . . . . (4)
where d is the crack depth, λR is the SAW wavelength,
C1 and C2 are the proportionality constants depending on
the specific crack geometry, and NFratio is the ratio of the
measured peak-to-peak amplitude levels immediately be-
fore and behind the crack, respectively. Their method was
suitable for precise, albeit small range detection.
Connolly et al. [72] measuring the time difference of
reflected signals to quantify the crack evolution generated
on an existing small pit, found a time domain subtraction
method for enhancing the signal to noise ratio. The for-
mula they used for crack depth is represented in Eq. (5):
ΔtVRVt − 2HVR
E= . . . . . . . . . (5)
2(Vt −VR)
where E is the crack depth, VR is the Rayleigh wave veloc-
ity, Vt is the transverse wave bulk velocity, Δt is the time
difference of reflected signals, and H is the thickness of
the specimen. They not only focused on numerical results
but also detected the crack growth in different cycles.
Based on a frequency and amplitude response analysis,
Ochiai [68] confirmed that the amplitude of SAW expo-
nentially decreases and the cut-off frequency decreases
with the increase in the slot/crack depth. He proposed
a linear relationship formed by an integration value I(d)
(see Eq. (6)) for crack depths 0 − 3 mm with an error of
less than 0.3 mm.
 fM
I(d) = f · PSAW
d
( f )d f . . . . . . . (6)
fm
where f is the frequency, PSAW d ( f ) is a frequency profile
of transmitted SAW at the slot/crack depth of d, fm and fM
are the minimum and maximum frequencies of the region
of interest, respectively. He proposed not only to find a
linear relationship of the quantitative estimation but also
to show that an integration relationship can also be used.
7. Discussion and Conclusions
Considering the research status presented in this pa-
per, we can see that theoretical and experimental inves-
tigations are still approaching a more quantitative mea-
surement level of expertise, although there is still a long
way from finding a satisfactory way to achieve accurate
results.
The main analysis tools used so far are propagation
time measurement and estimations of relationships in the
time domain, such as the propagation coefficients and
amplitude variations of transmitted and reflected waves.
Few attempts to develop new processing approaches, es-
pecially for the quantitative characterization of cracks in
the frequency domain, are being made.
Most of the theoretical and experimental studies related
to the quantitative detection of cracks focus on depth, few
focus on crack position, width, angle and direction, and
fewer focus on crack evolution monitoring.
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.7 No.2, 2013

We identify the following opportunities, which can be
improved on conduct promising and efficient crack char-
acterization monitoring and consequently can help these
techniques evolve to a more mature stage.
1. The frequency domain analysis can provide a
promising analysis environment for the tracking of
wave changes with more sensitivity, bringing a wider
range of characterization tools. These may in-
clude the analysis of the variation in material den-
sity, Young’s modulus, layer thickness, and so on.
In addition, frequency domain analysis may extend
the measurement range not only to mechanical or
physical properties, but also to electrical, magnetic,
or other properties. This is because the thermoe-
lastic analysis of SAW propagation can be com-
bined with laser interferometric spectroscopic analy-
sis techniques of characterization, which can be very
valuable for crack monitoring.
2. For the purpose of widening the analysis spectrum of
crack monitoring, we propose the use of LSAW the-
oretical and experimental research on specific quan-
titative detection tasks, such as tasks involving min-
imally detectable cracks, crack density, and cracks
distribution. Such research can help industrial qual-
ity controls.
3. Wave reflection effects from sample boundaries,
wave mode conversion effects in wave-crack interac-
tion, and additional real properties of the input beam
to represent the complex thermoelastic effects should
be taken into account when wave propagation and
wave-crack interaction phenomena are modeled.
4. LSAW is suited to the surface analysis of small im-
perfections at the depth of approximately one wave-
length within the surface. Therefore, new applica-
tions may be found for the characterization of bio-
logical tissues and interfaces.
5. The development of new theoretical frameworks for
the analysis of the thermoelastic SAW propagation
in a time-efficient manner may shift this technique
from labs to directly industrial environments. One
promising approach, currently being developed by
the authors, is the phonon detection approach, since
its discrete processing nature and its compatibility
with LSAW spectroscopy considerably reduces pro-
cessing times.
Therefore, it is important to enhance LSAW techniques
as a reliable approach for laboratory tests and production
environments. The creation of more accurate quantitative
algorithms to calculate crack features such as position,
size and crack distribution by means of a combined time
and frequency domain analysis, as well as more efficient
and comprehensive analysis and simulations of the wave
propagation and its interaction with cracks, will provide
further development to this research field.
In this paper, the LSAW working principles and tech-
niques for detecting and monitoring surface cracks have
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.7 No.2, 2013
Laser-Generated Surface Acoustic Wave Technique
for Crack Monitoring – A Review
been reviewed. The main strategies, variables and rela-
tionships for the quantitative monitoring of crack charac-
teristics have been presented, and conclusions and discus-
sions on prospective research and development directions
of LSAW techniques have been provided.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Project
from Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (No. 12JCY-
BJC30800) and the Sate Key Laboratory of Precision Measuring
Technology and Instruments Project (No. PILT1106).
References:
[1] S. M. Spearing, “Materials issues in microelectromechanical sys-
tems (MEMS),” Acta. Mater, Vol.48, pp. 179-196, 2000.
[2] Y. Tarui, T. Hirai, K. Teramoto, H. Koike, and K. Nagashima, “Ap-
plication of the ferroelectric materials to ULSI memories,” Appl.
Surf. Sci., Vol.113, pp. 656-663, 1997.
[3] B. Bhushan, “Handbook of Micro/Nano Tribology,” CRC Press,
Boca Raton, FL, 1999.
[4] T. E. Matikas, “Damage Characterization and Real-Time Health
Monitoring of Aerospace Materials Using Innovative NDE Tools,”
J. of Materials Engineering and Performance, Vol.19, pp. 751-760,
2010.
[5] L. M. Dong, J. Li, C. Y. Ni, Z. H. Shen, X. W. Ni, J. P. Chen,
N. Chigarev, V. Tournat, and V. Gusev, “Crack Detection of En-
gine Blade Based on Laser-Heating Assisted Surface Acoustic
Waves Generated by Scanning Laser,” Chinese J. of Lasers, Vol.38,
pp. 1103001.1-1103001.5, 2011.
[6] S. Dixon, B. Cann, D. L. Carroll, Y. Fan, and R. S. Edwards, “Non-
linear enhancement of laser generated ultrasonic Rayleigh waves by
cracks,” Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation, Vol.23, pp. 25-34,
2008.
[7] K. Y. Jhang, “Nonlinear Ultrasonic Techniques for Nondestructive
Assessment of Micro Damage in Material: A Review,” Int. J. of Pre-
cision Engineering and Manufacturing, Vol.10, pp. 123-135, Jan.
2009.
[8] E. R. Green Jr., “Non-contact ultrasonic techniques,” Ultrasonics,
Vol.42, pp. 9-16, 2004.
[9] C. Louis, “Nondestructive testing: radiography, ultrasonics, liquid
penetrant, magnetic particle, eddy current,” ASM Int., 1995.
[10] C. Hellier, “Handbook of Nondestructive Evaluation,” McGraw-
Hill, 2003.
[11] J. Z. Xia, “Nondestructive testing: An Introduction,” Guangzhou,
Zhongshan University Press，2010.
[12] Z. X. Zheng, “Nondestructive Inspection and Safety Assessment,”
Beijing, Standards Press of China, 2004.
[13] S. Vanlanduit, P. Guillaume, and G. V. D. Linden, “On-line mon-
itoring of fatigue cracks using ultrasonic surface waves,” NDT&E
Int., Vol.36, pp. 601-607, 2003.
[14] A. A. Olinered, “Acoustic Surface Waves,” Springer Verlag, Berlin,
Heidelberg, New York, 1978.
[15] J. L. Rose, “Ultrasonic Waves in Solid Media,” Beijing, Science
Verlag, 2004.
[16] H. M. Ledbetter and J. C. Moulder, “Laser-induced Rayleigh waves
in aluminum,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol.65, pp. 840-842, 1979.
[17] A. M. Aindow, R. J. Dewhurst, D. A. Hutchins, and S. B. Palmer,
“Laser-generated ultrasonic pulses at free metal surfaces,” J.
Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol.69, pp. 449-455, 1981.
[18] H. Ollendorf, D. Schneider, T. Schwarz, and A. Mucha, “Non-
destructive evaluation of TiN films with interface defects by sur-
face acoustic waves,” Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol.74-75,
pp. 246-252, 1995.
[19] H. Sato, S. Nakano, H. Ogiso, and K. Yamanaka, “Evaluation
of Standard Defects Using Surface Acoustic Waves Generated by
Phase Velocity Scanning of Laser Interference Fringes,” Jpn. J.
Appl. Phys., Vol.36, pp. 3267-3269, 1997.
[20] K. E.-A., V. D. Abeelea, A. Sutinb, J. Carmelietc, and P. A. John-
son, “Micro-damage diagnostics using nonlinear elastic wave spec-
troscopy (NEWS),” NDT&E Int., Vol.34, pp. 239-248, 2001.
[21] S. I. Rokhlin, J.-Y. Kim, B. Xie, and B. Zoofan, “Nondestructive
sizing and localization of internal microcracks in fatigue samples,”
NDT&E Int., Vol.40, pp. 462-470, 2007.
[22] J. F. Guan, “Mechanisms of laser generated surface acoustic wave
and its application in the surface defect inspection,” Nanjing Uni-
versity of Science and Technique, 2006.
217
Chen, K. et al.
[23] M. S. Bai, X. Fu, D. Dorantes, B. Y. Jin, and X. T. Hu, “A novel
light deflection detecting technology applied in laser-generated
ultrasonic detection,” Transducer and Microsystem Technologies,
Vol.30, pp. 50-55, 2011.
[24] M. S. Bai, X. Fu, D. Dorantes, B. Y. Jin, and X. T. Hu, “A Differ-
ential Confocal LG/LD SAW Detection System to Determine Me-
chanical Properties of Layered Thin Films,” Int. J. of Nanomanu-
facturing, Vol.7, pp. 311-326, 2011.
[25] M. S. Bai, X. Fu, D. Dorantes, B. Y. Jin, and X. T. Hu,
“Young’s modulus determination of low-k porous films by wide-
band DCC/LD SAW,” J. of Semiconductors, Vol.32, pp. 103003-6,
2011.
[26] R. F. Milsom, N. H. C. Reilly, and M. Redwood, “Analysis of gen-
eration and detection of surface and bulk acoustic waves by inter-
digital transducers,” IEEE Trans. on Sonics and Ultrasonics, Vol.24,
pp. 147-166, 1977.
[27] G. G. Zhang, “Nanostructure-Enhanced Surface AcousticWaves
Biosensor and Its ComputationalModeling,” J. of Sensors,
Vol.2009, pp. 1-11, 2009.
[28] A. A. Nassar, “Excitation of surface waves with piezoelectric lay-
ers,” Department of Electrical Engineering, McGill University,
Montreal, Canada, 1983.
[29] S. R. Ponamgi and H. S. Tuan, “Excitation of surface elastic waves
in a piezoelectric layered structure,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol.57,
pp. 338-346, 1975.
[30] R. S. Edwards, S. Dixon, and X. Jian, “Enhancement of the
Rayleigh wave signal at surface defects,” J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys,
Vol.37, pp. 2291-2297, 2004.
[31] H. Frost, “Electromagnetic-ultrasound transducers: principles,
practice and applications,” Academic Press, New York, W. P. Ma-
son, R. N. Thurston (Eds.), Physical Acoustics XIV, pp. 179-275,
1979.
[32] Z. M. Lu, D. Dorantes, K. Chen, F. Yang, B. Y. Jin, Y. N. Li,
Z. Chen, and X. T. Hu, “A Four-Quadrant PVDF Transducer for
Surface Acoustic,” sensors, Vol.12, pp. 10500-10510, 2012.
[33] R. J. Dewhurst, S. Boonsang, and P. R. Murray, “Alaser-
ultrasound/EMAT imaging system for near surface examination of
defects,” Springer-Verlag Berlin, Nondestructive Characterization
of Materials Xi, Proc. of the Int. Symp., pp. 13-19, 2003.
[34] H. M. Frost, J. C. Sethares, and T. L. Szabo, “Rotation sensing
through electromagnetic surface acoustic wave transduction,” J.
Appl. Phys., Vol.48, pp. 52-58, 1977.
[35] A. Murray, E. S. Boltz, M. Renken, C. M. Fortunko, M. F. Mecklen-
burg, and R. E. Green Jr., “Air-coupled ultrasonic system for charac-
terizing the structural stabilityof wooden panel paintings,” Plenum
Press, New York, Nondestructive Characterization of Material VII,
pp. 103-110, 1994.
[36] A. Murray, M. F. Mecklenburg, C. M. Fortunko, and R. E. Green
Jr., “Air-coupled ultrasonic system: a new technology for detecting
flaws in paintings on wooden panels,” J. Am. Inst. Conserv., Vol.35,
pp. 145-162, 1996.
[37] R. J. Dewhurst, C. E. Edwards, A. D. W. Mckie, and S. B. Palmer,
“Comparative study of wide-band ultrasonic transducers,” Ultrason-
ics, Vol.25, pp. 315-321, 1987.
[38] R. M. White, “Generation of elastic waves by transient surface heat-
ing,” J. Appl. Phys., Vol.34, pp. 3559-3567, 1963.
[39] S. Kitazawa, T. Y. S. P. Putra, S. Sakai, K. Narumi, H. Naramoto,
S. Yamamoto, and A. Chiba, “Laser detection of surface acoustic
waves as a method of measuring an Ar ion beam modification of
carbon thin film,” Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B, Vol.206,
pp. 952-955, 2003.
[40] D. C. Hurley, V. K. Tewary, and A. J. Richards, “Thin-film elastic-
property measurements with laser-ultrasonic SAW spectrometry,”
Thin Solid Films, Vol.398-399, pp. 326-330, 2001.
[41] D. Schneider, T. Schwarz, A. S. Bradford, Q. Shan, and R. J. De-
whurst, “Controlling the quality of thin films by surface acoustic
waves,” Ultrasonics, Vol.35, pp. 345-356, 1997.
[42] R. Nuster, H. Gruen, B. Reitinger, P. Burgholzer, S. Gratt,
K. Passler, and G. Paltauf, “Downstream Fabry Perot interferom-
eter for acoustic wave monitoring in photoacoustic tomography,”
OPTICS LETTERS, Vol.36, pp. 981-983, 2011.
[43] J. H. Kim, H. S. Kim, E. D. Sim, and K. Kim, “Filter-free wave-
length conversion using mach-zehnder interferometer with inte-
grated multimode interference semiconductor optical amplifiers,”
ETRI J., Vol.26, pp. 344-350, 2004.
[44] R. Longo, S. Vanlanduit, J. Vanherzeele, and P. Guillaume, “A
method for crack sizing using Laser Doppler Vibrometer measure-
ments of Surface Acoustic Waves,” Ultrasonics, Vol.50, pp. 76-80,
2010.
[45] A. Alippi, A. Palma, L. Palmieri, and G. Socino, “Acoustooptic in-
teraction for most effective deflection of unguided light via acoustic
surface waves,” Appl. Opt., Vol.15, pp. 2400-2404, 1976.
218
[46] D. Schneider, T. Schwarz, H.-J. Scheibe, and M. Panzner, “Non-
destructive evaluation of diamond and diamond-like carbon films by
laser induced surface acoustic waves,” Thin Solid Films, Vol.295,
pp. 107-116, 1997.
[47] R. Kuschnereit, H. Fath, A. A. Kolomenskii, M. Szabadi, and
P. Hess, “Mechanical and elastic properties of amorphous hydro-
genated silicon films studied by broadband surface acoustic wave
spectroscopy,” Appl. Phys., Vol.A61, pp. 269-276, 1995.
[48] F. Yang, D. Dorantes, K. Chen, Z. M. Lu, B. Y. Jin, Y. N. Li,
Z. Chen, and X. T. Hu, “An Integrated Laser-induced PZT/DC SAW
System for Thin Film Young’s Modulus Measurement,” Sensors,
Vol.12, pp. 12208-12219, 2012.
[49] Y. Matsuda, H. Nakano, S. Nagai, and H. Hiratsuka, “Surface
breaking crack evaluation with photorefractive quantum wells and
laser-generated Rayleigh waves,” Applied Physics Letters, Vol.89,
pp. 171902-1, 2006.
[50] J. L. Blackshire and A. Modic, “Surface-breaking Crack Depth As-
sessment Using Near-field Surface Acoustic Signal Response,” Re-
view of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation, AIP
Conf. Proc, Vol.30, pp. 681-688, 2011.
[51] J.-Y. Kim, V. A. Yakovlev, and S. I. Rokhlina, “Surface acoustic
wave modulation on a partially closed fatigue crack,” J. Acoust.
Soc. Am., Vol.115, pp. 1961-1973, 2004.
[52] J.-Y. Kim, V. A. Yakovlev, and S. I. Rokhlina, “Parametric mod-
ulation mechanism of surface acoustic wave on a partially closed
crack,” Applied Physics Letters, Vol.82, pp. 3203, 2003.
[53] D. Paehler and D. Schneider, “Nondestructive characterization
of sub-surface damage in rotational ground silicon wafers by
laser acoustics,” Microelectronic Engineering, Vol.84, pp. 340-354,
2007.
[54] D. Cerniglia, B. B. Djordjevic, and V. Nigrelli, “Quantitative
Subsurface Defect Detection in Composite Materials Using a
Non-contact Ultrasonic System,” IEEE ULTRASONICS SYMP.,
pp. 751-754, 2001.
[55] B. Dutton, A. R. Clough, and R. S. Edwards, “Near Field Enhance-
ments from Angled Surface Defects: A Comparison of Scanning
Laser Source and Scanning Laser Detection Techniques,” J. Nonde-
struct Eval., Vol.30, pp. 64-70, 2011.
[56] B. Lin, L. Zhang, D. Dorantes, Y. N. Li, X. Fu, and X. T. Hu,
“Numerical Simulation of Surface Acoustic Waves and Detection
of Surface Cracks in Steel,” Trans. of Tianjin University, Vol.17,
pp. 254-258, 2011.
[57] I. A. Viktorov, “Rayleigh and Lamb Waves: Physical theory and
applications,” New York, Plenum Press, 1967.
[58] B. R. Tittmann, F. Cohen- Tenoudji, M. Billy, A. Jungman, and
G. Quentin, “A simple approach to estimate the size of small surface
cracks with the use of acoustic surface waves,” Appl. Phys. Lett.,
Vol.33, pp. 6-9, 1978.
[59] V. Domarkas，B. T. Khuri-Yakub, and G. S. Kino, “Length and
depth resonances of surface cracks and their use for crack size esti-
mation,” Appl. phys. Lett., Vol.33, pp. 557-560, 1978.
[60] H. S. Tuanand and R. C. M. Li, “Rayleigh-wave reflection from
groove and step discontinuities,” J. Acoust. Soe. Am., Vol.55,
pp. 1212-1217, 1974.
[61] A. Donald and D. A. Simons, “Reflection of Rayleigh waves by
strips, grooves, and periodic arrays of strips or grooves,” J. Acoust.
Soe. Am., Vol.63, pp. 1292-1301, 1978.
[62] A. K. Gautesen, J. D. Achenbach, and H. MeMaken, “Surface-wave
rays in elastodynamic diffraction by cracks,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.,
Vol.63, pp. 1824-1831, 1978.
[63] M. Hirao, H. Fukuoka, and Y. Miura, “Scattering of Rayleigh sur-
face waves by edge cracks: Numerical Simulation and experiment,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol.72, pp. 602-606, 1982.
[64] L. J. Crane， M. D. Gilchrist, and J. J. H. Miller, “Analysis of
Rayleigh-Lamb wave scattering by a crack in an elastic plate,”
Comp. Mech., Vol.19, pp. 533-537, 1996.
[65] A. K. Kromine, P. A. Fomitchov, S. Krishnaswamy, and
J. D. Achenbach, “Applications of scanning laser source technique
for detection of surface-breaking defects,” Proc. SPIE, Vol.4076,
pp. 252-259, 2000.
[66] A. K. Kromine, P. A. Fomitchov, S. Krishnaswamy, and
J. D. Achenbach, “Laser ultrasonic detection of surface breaking
discontinuities: Scanning laser source technique,” Materials Evalu-
ation, Vol.58, pp. 173-177, 2000.
[67] I. Arias and J. D. Achenbach, “A Theoretical Model for the Ul-
trasonic Detection of Surface-Breaking Cracks with the Scanning
Laser Source Technique,” Review of Progress in Quantitative Non-
destructive Evaluation, Vol.22, pp. 281-288, 2003.
[68] M. Ochiai, “Laser-induced surface acoustic wave technique for pre-
cise depth measurement of stress corrosion cracking,” J. of Physics:
Conf. Series, Vol.278, pp. 012009.1-6, 2011.
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.7 No.2, 2013
 Laser-Generated Surface Acoustic Wave Technique
for Crack Monitoring – A Review

[69] A. Cooney and J. L. Blackshire, “Characterization Of Microscopic

Surface Breaking Cracks Using the Near-Field Intensification Of
Non-Destructive Laser Generated Surface Waves,” Proc. of SPIE,
Vol.5392, pp. 158-167, 2004.
[70] D. O. Thompson and R. B. Thompson, “Review of Developments
in Quantitatve Ultrasonic NDE,” J. de Physique Colloques, Vol.46,
pp. C10-835-C10-846, 1985.
[71] D. Donskoy, A. Sutin, and A. Ekimov, “Nonlinear acoustic inter-
action on contact interfaces and its use for nondestructive testing,”
NDT&E Int., Vol.34, pp. 231-238, 2001.
[72] G. D. Connolly and S. I. Rokhlin, “Quantitative Enhancement of
Fatigue Crack Monitoring by Imaging Surface Acoustic Wave Re-
flection in a Space-cycle-load Domain,” Review of Progress in
Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation, AIP Conf. Proc., Vol.30,
pp. 1499-1506, 2011.
Name:
Kun Chen
Affiliation:
Ph.D. Student, College of Precision Instrument
and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin Uni-
versity
Address:
No.92, Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, P.R. China
Brief Biographical History:
2005- Bachelor of Engineering, College of Electronic Information
Engineering, Tianjin University
2009- Master & Ph.D., College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-electronics Engineering, Tianjin University
Name:
Dante J. Dorantes-Gonzalez
Affiliation:
Professor, College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin Univer-
sity
Address:
No.92, Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, P.R. China
Brief Biographical History:
1994- Ph.D., Technical Sciences (Manufacturing Systems Automation),
Saint-Petersburg State Technical University, Russia
1998- Researcher, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Monterrey
Institute of Technology, Campus State of Mexico, Mexico
2000- Director, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics,
Monterrey Institute of Technology, Campus State of Mexico, Mexico
2006- Associate Professor and Director, Innovation Center, Monterrey
Institute of Technology, Campus Guadalajara, Mexico
2008- Professor, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-Electronics
Engineering, Tianjin University, P.R. China
Main Works:
• “A Four-Quadrant PVDF Transducer for Surface Acoustic,” Sensors,
Vol.12, pp. 10500-10510, 2012.
• “An Integrated Laser-induced PZT/DC SAW System for Thin Film
Young’s Modulus Measurement,” Sensors, Vol.12, pp. 12208-12219, 2012.
• “A Differential Confocal LG/LD SAW Detection System to Determine
Mechanical Properties of Layered Thin Films,” Int. J. of
Nanomanufacturing, Vol.7, pp. 311-326, 2011.
Membership in Academic Societies:
• The Mexican Association of Mechatronics, Founding Member
• SME-IEEE, Mechatronics, and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems
• The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Robotics &
Automation, and Education

Name:
Xing Fu

Affiliation:
Professor, College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin Univer-
sity

Address:
No.92, Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, P.R. China
Brief Biographical History:
1994- Ph.D., College of Precision Instrument and Opto-Electronics
Engineering, Tianjin University
1999- Associate Professor, College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin University
2005- Professor, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-Electronics
Engineering, Tianjin University
Main Works:
• “Realization of nanosecond pulse laser micromachining system,” J. of
Vacuum Science & Technology B, Vol.27, pp. 1319-1322, 2009.
• “Influences of Nanosecond Pulsed Laser on Parameters in
Micro-Polishing of Stainless Steel 316L,” Nanotechnology and Precision
Engineering, Vol.9, pp. 370-6, 2011.
• “Piezoelectric inchworm-type probe-approaching stepper,” Proc. of the
SPIE – The Int. Society for Optical Engineering, Vol.8321, pp. 83210Z,
2011.
Membership in Academic Societies:
• Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society
• Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology

Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.7 No.2, 2013 219

Chen, K. et al.
Name:
Yanning Li
Affiliation:
Professor, College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin Univer-
sity
Address:
No.92, Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, P.R. China
Brief Biographical History:
1994- Ph.D., College of Precision Instrument and Opto-Electronics
Engineering, Tianjin University
2001- Associate Professor, College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin University
2009- Professor, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-Electronics
Engineering, Tianjin University
Main Works:
• “Study on structure optimization of a piezoelectric cantilever for
vibration energy harvesting,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, Vol.27,
pp. 1288-1290, 2009.
• “Multi-Channel Photoelastic Modulator Based Reflectance Difference
Spectroscopy,” Nanotechnology and Precision Engineering, Vol.8,
pp. 195-200, 2010.
• “Real-time single particle tracking system based on LabVIEW,” Chinese
J. of Science Instrument, Vol.31, pp. 1352-1357, 2010.
Membership in Academic Societies:
• Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society
• Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology
Name:
Sen Wu
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, College of Precision Instru-
ment and Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin
University
Address:
No.92, Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, P.R. China
Brief Biographical History:
2005- Master & Ph.D., College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin University
2012- Assistant Professor, College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin University
Main Works:
• “Manipulation of individual double-walled carbon nanotube packed in a
casing shell,” Nanotechnology, Vol.22, pp. 285308, 2011.
• “Manipulation and behavior modeling of one-dimensional nanomaterials
on a structured surface,” Applied Surface Science, Vol.256, pp. 4738-4744,
2010.
• “Effect of the tip-sample contact force on the nanostructure size
fabricated by local oxidation nanolithography,” Ultramicroscopy, Vol.115,
pp. 7-13, 2011.
220
View publication stats
Name:
Xiaotang Hu
Affiliation:
Professor, College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin Univer-
sity
Address:
No.92, Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, P.R. China
Brief Biographical History:
1983- Ph.D., Precision Instruments Measuring and Testing Technology
and Instruments, Tianjin University
1988- Postdoctoral and Visiting Scholars, U.S. National Institute of
Standards and Technology North Carolina State University
1990- Associate Professor, College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin University
1993- Professor, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-Electronics
Engineering, Tianjin University
1995-1997 Associate Dean, College of Precision Instrument and
Opto-Electronics Engineering, Tianjin University
1997- Dean, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-Electronics
Engineering, Tianjin University
1997- Vice-Principal, Tianjin University
Main Works:
• “Nano-photomask fabrication using focused ion beam direct writing,”
CIRP Annals-Manufacturing Technology, Vol.59, pp. 543-546, 2010.
• “Optimization of tool positions locally based on the BCELTP for 5-axis
machining of free-form surfaces,” Computer-Aided Design, Vol.42,
pp. 558-570, 2010.
• “Fabrication of micro DOE using micro tools shaped with focused ion
beam,” Optics Express, Vol.18, pp. 8025-8032, 2010.
Membership in Academic Societies:
• China Instrument and Control Society
• China Metrological Measuring Institute
• Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.7 No.2, 2013