| Sonstiges: |
- Nachgewiesen in: USPTO Patent Applications
- Sprachen: English
- Document Number: 20100305877
- Publication Date: December 2, 2010
- Appl. No: 12/787517
- Application Filed: May 26, 2010
- Claim: 1. A method of measuring at least one material property of a ceramic cellular ceramic body during thermal processing, comprising: a) subjecting the ceramic cellular ceramic body to a temperature cycle within an interior of an oven having first and second windows; b) sequentially irradiating with a first laser beam the cellular ceramic body through the first window at one or more first locations to generate acoustic waves in the cellular ceramic body; c) sequentially irradiating with a second laser beam the cellular ceramic body through the second window at one or more second locations that correspond to the one or more first locations to detect the acoustic waves in the cellular ceramic body; and d) calculating from the one or detected acoustic waves the at least one material property.
- Claim: 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: forming from the detected acoustic waves corresponding one or more electrical detector signals; and calculating the at least one material property from the one or more electrical detector signals.
- Claim: 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cellular ceramic body includes a central axis, the first and second laser beams are aligned along a system axis, and further including: supporting the cellular ceramic body using a support fixture so that the central axis is either substantially aligned with or is substantially perpendicular to the system axis
- Claim: 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one material property is selected from the group of material properties comprising: time of flight (TOF), speed of sound cmat, peak frequency and bandwidth, acoustic wave amplitude versus time, elastic modulus E, cracking, and specific modulus E/ρ=c2mat where ρ is a material density, and attenuation.
- Claim: 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising modulating the first laser beam at a frequency between 1 kHz and 5 MHz.
- Claim: 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the cellular ceramic body comprises a cylinder and has associated therewith an axial direction and a radial direction, further comprising: sending the acoustic waves through the cellular ceramic body in either substantially the axial direction or in substantially the radial direction.
- Claim: 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the cellular ceramic body includes a plurality of walls that define a plurality of cells and wall intersections, and further comprising sequentially focusing the first laser beam onto different wall intersections.
- Claim: 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating acts b) through d) for a plurality of temperatures in the temperature cycle and calculating the at least one material property as a function of temperature.
- Claim: 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising measuring a hysteresis of at the least one material property as a function of temperature.
- Claim: 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing first and second coupling layers at respective first and second ends of the cellular ceramic body so that the first and second laser beams are respectively incident thereon.
- Claim: 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first and second coupling layers are made of a ceramic-based material.
- Claim: 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the cellular ceramic body includes a plurality of cells that are open at the first and second ends, and including providing the first and second coupling layers as plugs in the open cells at the first and second open ends.
- Claim: 13. A laser-based ultrasonic system for measuring at least one material property of a ceramic cellular ceramic body during thermal processing, comprising: a) an oven having first and second windows and an interior, and containing in the interior the ceramic cellular ceramic body, the oven being configured to subject the ceramic cellular ceramic body to a temperature cycle; b) a laser generator system configured to generate and sequentially direct a modulated first laser beam through the first window and onto the cellular ceramic body at a plurality of first locations so as to generate acoustic waves over a plurality of acoustic paths within the cellular ceramic body; c) a laser detector system configured to generate and sequentially direct a second laser beam through the second window and onto the cellular ceramic body at a plurality of second locations that correspond to the plurality of first locations so as to detect the acoustic waves and form therefrom a corresponding plurality electrical detector signal representative of the detected acoustic waves; and d) a processor configured to receive and process the electrical detector signals and calculate the at least one material property.
- Claim: 14. The system of claim 13, further comprising at least one temperature sensor configured to measure an oven interior temperature and generate a corresponding temperature signal, and wherein the processor is configured to receive the temperature signal and calculate the at least one material property as a function of temperature.
- Claim: 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the cellular ceramic body includes a central axis, the first and second laser beams are aligned along a system axis, and further comprising: a support fixture configured to support the cellular ceramic body within the oven interior so that the central axis is either substantially aligned with or is substantially perpendicular to the system axis.
- Claim: 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the cellular ceramic body includes a plurality of cells defined by walls that in turn define a plurality of wall intersections, and further comprising a first focusing optical system operably arranged relative to the laser generator system so as to focus the first laser beam onto a first wall intersection at a first end of the cellular ceramic body.
- Claim: 17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a second focusing optical system operably arranged relative to the laser detector system so as to focus the first laser beam onto a wall intersection at a second end of the cellular ceramic body.
- Claim: 18. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one material property is selected from the group of material properties comprising: time of flight (TOF), speed of sound cmat, peak frequency and bandwidth, acoustic wave amplitude versus time, elastic modulus E, cracking, and specific modulus E/ρ=c2mat, where ρ is a material density, and attenuation.
- Claim: 19. The system of claim 13, wherein the cellular ceramic body has first and second ends with respective first and second coupling layers formed thereon so that the first and second laser beams are respectively incident thereon.
- Claim: 20. A method of measuring at least one material property of a ceramic cellular ceramic body during thermal processing, comprising: a) arranging ceramic cellular ceramic body in an oven having an adjustable temperature and first and second windows; b) adjusting the oven temperature, and for each of a plurality of oven temperatures: sequentially irradiating the cellular ceramic body at a plurality of first locations with a modulated laser beam that passes through a first window to generate acoustic waves over a plurality of acoustic paths within the ceramic cellular body; c) sequentially irradiating the cellular ceramic body at a plurality of second locations that correspond to the plurality of the first locations through the second window using a detection laser beam to detect the acoustic waves for the plurality of acoustic paths and forming a corresponding plurality of electrical detector signals representative of the detected acoustic waves; and d) calculating from the one or more electrical detector signals the at least one material property as a function of location and temperature.
- Claim: 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one material property is selected from the group of material properties comprising: time of flight (TOF), speed of sound cmat, peak frequency and bandwidth, acoustic wave amplitude versus time, elastic modulus E, specific modulus E/ρ=c2mat, where ρ is a material density, and attenuation.
- Claim: 22. The method of claim 20, wherein the cellular ceramic body comprises a cylinder and has associated therewith an axial direction and a radial direction, further comprising: sending the acoustic waves through the cellular ceramic body in either substantially the axial direction or in substantially the radial direction.
- Claim: 23. The method of claim 20, wherein the cellular ceramic body includes a plurality of walls define a plurality cells and a plurality of wall intersections, and further comprising focusing the modulated laser beam onto a wall intersection.
- Claim: 24. The method of claim 20, further comprising providing first and second coupling layers at respective first and second ends of the cellular ceramic body so that the modulated and detection laser beams are respectively incident thereon.
- Claim: 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the first and second coupling layers are made of a ceramic-based material.
- Claim: 26. The method of claim 24, wherein the cellular ceramic body includes a plurality of cells that are open at the first and second ends, and including providing the first and second coupling layers as plugs in the open cells at the first and second open ends.
- Claim: 27. The method of claim 20, further comprising measuring a hysteresis of at least one material property as a function of temperature.
- Current U.S. Class: 702/39
- Current International Class: 06; 01
|
