Microstructure-ultrasonic inspectability relationships in Ti6242: Signal-to-noise in fine-grain-processed Ti6242

The ultrasonic behavior of titanium alloy Ti6242 was determined as a functi on of ultrasonic frequency and material microstructure. The signal-to-noise ratio for synthetic flaws machined in the Ti6242 blocks was strongly influ enced by microstructural condition, particularly as it was defined by elect ron backscatter diffraction pattern (EBDP) analysis. Ti6242 blocks with a m icrostructure consisting of uniform, fine, texture-free alpha Ti particles had signal-to-noise ratios about 20 dB greater than blocks with microstruct ures consisting of colonies of crystallographically aligned alpha Ti partic les.