Ultrasonic testing
Ultrasound systems mounted on the rolling stock, able to verify the integrity of the rails in motion.
The ultrasonic testing technique facilitates the completion of volumetric inspection of materials, also able to define the integrity of parts and components—including internally—and establishing the nature, extent and location of any discontinuities and defects.
Such operations are completed via an ultrasonic probe or transducer containing a particular component (piezoelectric crystal) able to transform an electric pulse into a mechanical vibration.
The crystal generates sound waves that are emitted into the component to be checked. Any replicated echo or the base echo are picked up once more by the transducer, which then transforms the vibration—being the mechanical energy—into electrical impulses.
These are then sent via a connecting cable to a device that amplifies and renders them visible in the form of an oscillogram suitably transformed on a liquid-crystal or plasma display.
Ultrasonic testing is also carried out In the railway sector by means of ultrasound systems mounted on the rolling stock, able to verify the integrity of the rails in motion (at speeds of some tens of kilometres/hour), capable of acquiring and analysing the dynamic phase and in real time, with the data relating to the presence of any defects and structural abnormalities of the rails. Subsequent analyses monitor the critical points detected by the rolling stock with manual instruments.
