Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Jiro YOHSO
Senior Researcher,
Hiroshi SAKAMOTO
Hiromichi ISHIDUKA
Assistant Senior Researcher,
Senior Researcher, Laboratory Head,
Vehicle & Bogie Parts Strength Laboratory, Vehicle Structure Technology Division
An ultrasonic testing technique was studied for a hollow axle with a 30 mm bore diameter manufactured on a trial basis for conventional railway vehicles. To compensate
for the decrease in crack detection sensitivity due to the small bore diameter, a
piezocomposite focal probe was designed. It has been demonstrated that the ultrasonic
testing equipment thus developed could detect artificial flaws with a depth of 0.15 mm at
the non-fitted central part and those with a depth of 0.3 mm at the inner end of the wheelseat
(fitted part). The accuracy of axle inspection for conventional railway vehicles equipped
with such hollow axles will match that of Shinkansen vehicles.
Keywords
Keywords: conventional railway vehicles, hollow axle, ultrasonic test, piezocomposite focal
probe
1. Introduction
60 mm diam.
2.
Bore
Transducer
Angle-beam
technique
: Probe
Axle
: Ultrasound
Wheel
Fig. 1
78
Normal beam
technique
Axle
Wheelseat
Gear seat
(or brake disk seat)
Flaw
Outer
end
Wedge
Longitudinal wave
angle-beam technique
Flaw depth
Fig. 2
Inner
end
Wheel
Bolt hole
30 mm diam.
110 mm diam.
Bore
Bolt
Axle
Fig. 3
End cover
Outer ring Inner ring
Flat transducer
Axle center
Axle center
30 mm diam. bore
Ultrasound focal point
Ultrasound radiation
60 mm diam. bore
Ultrasound focal point
Part to be inspected
(axle surface)
(b) Bore diameter: 60 mm
Probe
Flaw echo
Press-fit echo
Flaw echo +
Press-fit echo
Lattice
Wedge
Axle surface
(part to be inspected)
Angle of incidence
Normal
transducer
Bore surface
Axlee
Angle of refraction
Focal point
Piezocomposite
transducer
80
Fig. 6 T
ransducer types and flaw and press-fit echo
Transducer
waveforms
4.3 Piezocomposite focal probe
Figure 7 shows the piezocomposite focal probe manufactured on a trial basis, and Table 1 gives its specifications. A test piece on which several kinds of artificial
flaws were machined was prepared and tested with a ceramics probe, a piezocomposite probe and a
piezocomposite focal probe, each having a 40-degree angle
of refraction. A comparison of the heights of flaw echoes
has proved that the flaw sensitivity increased about 6 dB
when a piezocomposite probe was used instead of a ceramics one, and about 6 dB more when a focal one was
used.
Piezoceramics
Polymer
50 m
5.
Specification
Piezocomposite
15 mm x 12 mm
5 MHz
40 degrees
Cylinder of 15 mm radius
5.1 T
esting equipment and test method
Testing
Figure 8 shows the ultrasonic testing equipment for
hollow axles with a small bore diameter in which a
piezocomposite focal probe with a 40-degree angle of refraction is installed. Figure 9 shows the system structure. The probe head is inserted into the bore and moved
in the axial and circumferential directions, and the ultrasound transmitted from the bore surface propagates
forward (the direction to the axle center) and backward
Oil pump
K
Model gear
HG F E D C
HG F E D C
Motor controller
(mm)
Elevator
192
Motor
195
Gear
side
110
30
Journal bearing
150
Probe head
PC
Counter
gear side
150
Model axle
Flaw detector
-axis motor
To axle
Probe head
Probe
Couplant (oil)
X-axis motor
Oil pump
Flaw detection
gate output
Waveform
Flaw detector
Control signal
PC
Display
RS-232C
A/D converter board
Motor
controller
Table 2 Artificial flaws of model hollow axle with small bore diameter
Symbol
A-A
B-B
C-C
D-D
E-E
F-F
G-G
H-H
I-I
J-J
K-K
Part
Distance
from
gear-side
axle end
[mm]
Distance
from
counter
gear-side
axle end
[mm]
EDM-machined
artificial flaw(s)
436
1464
625
950
1000
1050
1100
1150
1200
1275
950
900
850
800
750
700
1464
436
1S
0.5A
1S
0.6S
0.5N
0.3S
0.15S
0.5N, 1N; 0.3S, 0.6S, 1S;
0.3E, 0.6E, 1E, 3E
1607
293
1S
1736.5
163.5
Depth: a
Notched flaw: N
10
Depth: a
Square flaw: S
Length: 2c
Depth: a
a/2c = 0.35
Semi-elliptic flaw: E
1) The types of artificial flaws are described as A (all-round flaw), N (notched flaw), S (square flaw) and E (semi-elliptic flaw).
2) The number in front of flaw types (A, N, S, E) indicates the flaw depth [unit: mm].
81
W4
W3
W2
W1
Probe
Fig. 1
1 Spiral scan of probe head
11
Setting value
100-1000 mm from both axle ends
18 dB above the sensitivity of 80 % echo
height of 1S flaw on the position D-D in the
non-fitted central part
Scan of probe head
Spiral scan
Rotation speed of probe 100 rpm (maximum: 300 rpm)
head
Axial scan pitch
2 mm per one rotation
Data recording pitch in 2 degrees
circumferential direction
Trigger gate range
The range including the path length at any
position on the axle surface from the minimum
diameter (journal) to the maximum diameter
(wheelseat)
Flaw detection gate 2 mm width from the first echo that exceeded
range
the threshold level of the trigger gate
Recording information 1) The position of probe in the axial and circumferential directions
2) Maximum echo height and path length
within the range of flaw detection gate
tor amplifier gain when the echo height of this flaw was
80 percent was defined as the specified sensitivity, and
the working sensitivity was adjusted to the specified sensitivity +18 dB to compensate for the decrease of flaw
sensitivity caused by the rotation of the probe head. The
scan of the probe head was in the shape of a spiral, as
shown in Fig. 11. The axial scan pitch per one rotation
was 2 mm, the data recording pitch in the circumferential direction was 2 degrees, and the rotation speed was
100 rpm.
5.2 Flaw detection gate settings
In ultrasonic axle testing, flaw detection gates are
normally set at every test position such as a wheelseat or
a non-fitted central part, as shown in Fig. 12. Flaw detection gates are set around the calculated path length to
the axle surface where particular attention needs to be
paid, and only the waveform indicated within the gate
range provides useful information.
Figure 13 shows a waveform tested at the inner end
of the counter gear-side wheelseat (position I-I) when a
normal-type flaw detection gate is used. When this position is tested, spurious echoes from the corner of the
wheelseat and its fillet are generated in addition to the
flaw echoes, as shown in Fig. 14. Even if the flaw echo
and the spurious echo are separated, the echoes will appear simultaneously within the range of the flaw detec-
82
Spurious echo
Flaw echo
80
Echo height [%]
60
40 Path length of flaw
echo detected.
Flaw detection gate
at wheelseat
20
0
90
120
Path length [mm]
Fig. 13 W
aveform at position I-I
Waveform
tion gate when the difference of their path lengths is
short. In addition, the height of the spurious echo is
incorrectly detected as the echo height in the flaw detection gate if the spurious echo is more pronounced than
the flaw echo.
Therefore, as shown in Fig. 15, a trigger gate was set
in a range including the path length at any position on
the axle surface from the minimum diameter (journal) to
the maximum diameter (wheelseat). A flaw detection gate
of 2 mm width was set at the first echo that was above
the trigger gate threshold level. If we use this method,
only the flaw echo whose path length is shorter than that
of the spurious echo can be detected separately when the
flaw echo and the spurious echo appear simultaneously
at the positions where spurious echoes are generated.
The path lengths of echoes detected in scanning were
compared among the several data recording points adjoining in the circumferential direction. If there were
recording points whose path lengths varied over the range
th
ng
th
ed
le
pa
Reflection at flaw
Center of ultrasound beam
la
Reflection at
corner or fillet
cu
l
Ca
40 deg.
Ultrasound
Probe
Bore
5.3 T
est results
Test
Angle of refraction: 40 deg.
Probe
Center of ultrasound beam
Spurious echo
Flaw echo
Trigger gate
Trigger gate
7. Conclusions
On the basis of experience gained with hollow axles
that have been used on Shinkansen vehicles, a hollow axle
with a small bore diameter of 30 mm applicable to con-
Displayed range
Displayed range
Notched flaws
1 mm depth
0.5 mm depth
]
[mm
]
m
[m
ce
fa
d
osit
ion
ion
ax
le
en
tial
p
fr
om
sit
po
g.]
[de
face
Notched flaw of
1 mm depth
eren
umf
[deg
ta
nc
ial
om a
ce fr
an
Dist
nd
xle e
Circ
Square flaws
0.15 mm depth
Semi-elliptic flaw
of 3 mm depth
.]
is
t
en
0.3 mm depth
Square flaws
1 mm depth
0.6 mm depth
0.3 mm depth
er
mf
rcu
Ci
1 mm depth
0.6 mm depth
Notched flaw of
0.5 mm depth
Fig. 16 Ultrasonic test results of model hollow axle with small bore diameter
83
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Prof. H. Toda of Wakayama
University for guiding us in the design of focal probes.
84
Angle-beam technique
used on 60 mm hollow
axles for Shinkansen vehicles
0.6S
1S
1S
1S
0.15S
References
1) Yohso, J., Sakamoto, H., Makino, K. and Ishiduka,
H., "Inspection of Rolling Stock Axles by Using the
Grazing SH-wave Ultrasonic Method (in Japanese),"
RTRI Report, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp. 35-40, 2002.
2) Hachiya, M., Toda, H., Murata, Y. and Yohso, J.,
"Characteristics of Ultrasonic Transducer for Bored
Type Axle (in Japanese)," Proceedings of the 9th Symposium on Ultrasonic Testing, pp. 75-76, 2002.
3) Yohso, J., "Development of Automatic Ultrasonic Testing Equipment for General and Bogie Inspection of
Shinkansen Hollow Axle," Proceedings of the 11th
International Wheelset Congress, Vol. 2, pp. 47-50,
1995.