MEASUREMENT OF DISTRIBUTION OF ELASTIC-CO NSTANTS IN ZIRCONIA STAINLESS-STEEL FUNCTIONALLY GRADIENT MATERIALS BY LINE-FOCUS-BEAM ACOUSTIC MICROSCOPE

Elastic constant of functionally gradient materials (FGM) is one of th e most important material properties. The authors have developed new m easurement procedures for local elastic constants for some uniform ind ustrial materials by using a LFB acoustic microscope. The purpose of t his paper is to verify the versatility of the LFB acoustic microscope in the measurement of the elastic constant distribution of FGM. Partia lly stabilized zirconia/stainless steel FGM specimens from four variou s fabrication routes were used for the measurement by the LFB acoustic microscope to estimate the elastic constant distribution in the grade d samples. It has been shown that the present method is sufficiently a pplicable to the accurate determination of the local elastic constant in FGM.