Flexible metallic ultrasonic transducers for structural health monitoring of pipes at high temperatures.

Piezoelectric films have been deposited by a sol-gel spray technique onto 75-μm-thick titanium and stainless steel (SS) membranes and have been fabricated into flexible ultrasonic transducers (FUTs). FUTs using titanium membranes were glued and those using SS membranes brazed onto steel pipes, procedures that serve as on-site installation techniques for the purpose of offering continuous thickness monitoring capabilities at up to 490 °C. At 150 °C, the thickness measurement accuracy of a pipe with an outer diameter of 26.6 mm and a wall thickness of 2.5 mm was estimated to be 26 μm and the center frequency of the FUT was 10.8 MHz. It is demonstrated that the frequency bandwidth of the FUTs and SNR of signals using glue or brazing materials as high-temperature couplant for FUTs are sufficient to inspect the steel pipes even with a 2.5 mm wall thickness.