NDT FUNDAMENTALS

Ultrasonics
Part 3. Refraction and mode conversion
J C Drury

revious diagrams have shown the incident sound as if it were

a single ray of energy, but of course it is really a beam that
has some width, rather like a torch beam. If the incident
beam is directed at an interface between water and steel at an angle
other than normal, the angle taken up by the transmitted beam
in the steel will be greater than the incident angle in water. The
advancing wave front in a sound beam can be defined as the plane
in which all the oscillating particles are in phase, or at the same
position in their oscillating cycle. The bottom edge of the beam
shown in Figure 3.1 arrives at the interface first and immediately
takes up the faster velocity of the steel. As the rest of the wave front
reaches the interface, so the transmitted beam gradually takes up
steel velocity. By the time that the top edge of the beam enters the
steel, the sound from the bottom edge has already travelled four
times further than it would have in water. Joining up the in phase
points on the wave front at the instant the top edge enters the steel
shows the wave front advancing at a new angle. The beam of sound
is said to have undergone refraction as it crossed the interface and
the new angle is called the angle of refraction.
The refraction occurs because of the difference in velocity on
either side of the interface and the proportions of energy reflected in
the water and transmitted into the steel remain the same as it would
be for normal incidence. Figure 3.2 shows the incident, reflected
and refracted angles. These angles are always measured from the
normal to the interface. In the diagram, i is the angle of incidence,
r is the angle of reflection and R is the angle of refraction.
The angles and velocities are related and the relationship is
expressed in Snells Law such that:
Sin i Sin r Sin R
=
=
V2
V1
V1

Where:
i = Angle of Incidence
r = Angle of Reflection
R = Angle of Refraction
V1 = Velocity in Medium 1
V2 = Velocity in Medium 2

Figure 3.1

reflections. Because of this ambiguity, ultrasonics tended to be

restricted to the detection of discontinuities with surfaces parallel
to the scanning surface such as laminations and cavities. Attempts
to detect, for example, weld defects such as lack of sidewall fusion
and root cracks by angling the beam were not reliable.
Sproule realised that the compression wave refracted angle
would always be about double the shear wave refracted angle
because the shear wave velocity is about half the compression
velocity. Therefore if the angle of incidence were to be increased
progressively, there would be a critical angle of incidence at which
the compression wave would refract through 90. Any increase in
angle of incidence beyond this critical angle would leave only a
shear wave in medium 2 and the compression wave would undergo
total internal reflection in medium 1. With only a shear wave in
medium 2 travelling at a known velocity and at a known angle,
the field was open for many new applications of ultrasonics. The
critical angle at which the compression wave is refracted through
90 is called the first critical angle. For a water to steel interface the

Mode conversion
If medium 1 is a liquid and medium 2 a solid, some of the energy in
the solid will change to the shear wave mode. This change is known
as mode conversion. For small angles of incidence the proportion of
energy changing to shear wave mode is small and can be ignored.
However as the angle of incidence increases the proportion
increases and the shear wave becomes significant so that there can
be two types of wave in medium 2 at the same time, both of which
can reflect from surfaces within the object. Since they both travel
at different speeds, and Snells Law tells us that they will refract
in different directions, the results can be very confusing. This was
a restricting factor in ultrasonics until Sproule developed the first
shear wave angle probes in 1947. Until then it was unsafe to rely
on angles of refraction greater than about 10 since echoes from the
compression wave could not be discriminated from the shear wave

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Figure 3.2

Insight Vol 47 No 1 January 2005

Figure 3.3

Figure 3.4

first critical angle is about 15 and for a Perspex to steel interface

the angle is about 28. At these critical angles, the remaining shear
wave is at an angle of refraction just over 30. Increasing the angle
of incidence above the first critical angle causes the compression
wave to be totally reflected in medium 1 and the shear wave
refracted angle to increase so that transducers can be produced at a
suitable angle to detect particular defect propagation directions.
Eventually a second critical angle of incidence will be reached
at which the shear wave will be refracted through 90. The shear
wave at this second critical angle will again mode convert, this time
to become a surface (Rayleigh) wave. This new wave travels at
90% of the shear wave velocity, only penetrates to a depth of about
one wavelength, will follow the surface contour of the object and
will only reflect at an abrupt change in surface direction such as a
corner or a crack. If the angle of incidence is increased beyond the
second critical angle, no sound will be transmitted into medium 2.
Ultrasonic transducers having refracted angles between 0 and 10
are likely to be compression wave probes and those with refracted
angles between 35 and 80 will be shear wave probes. Surface
wave probes have a refracted angle of 900. Between 10 and 35,
and 80 to 90, it would be possible to have two simultaneous
modes existing in medium 2 and so it is unusual to find transducers
in these two ranges exceptions to this rule will be discussed in a
later chapter.
Figures 3.3 and 3.4 show the relationship between the incident
angle and refracted angle for water to steel and Perspex to steel
interfaces. The graphs show that the second critical angle for water
to steel is about 28 and for Perspex to steel about 58. These values
would be different if medium 2 were to be aluminium or some other
solid than steel.

From a practical point of view it is more usual to know the

refracted angle needed in the test material in order to detect a
particular discontinuity, and so the calculation would be to find the
necessary angle of incidence, in water for immersion testing, or in
Perspex for contact scanning. Example 2 shows this version of the
application of Snells Law.

Example 1
An incident compression wave in water meets a steel interface at
an incident angle of 19. Calculate the shear wave refracted angle
in the steel given that the compression wave velocity in water as
1480 m/s and the shear wave velocity in steel as 3240 m/s.
From Snells Law:
Sin i Sin R
=
V2
V1

Therefore:

Sin R =

Sin R =

V2 xSin i
V1

3240x0.3256
1480

Sin R = 0.7128

R = 45.46

Insight Vol 47 No 1 January 2005

Example 2
Calculate the angle of incidence required in Perspex in order to
produce 45o Shear wave in steel given that the compression wave
velocity in Perspex is 2680 m/s and the shear wave velocity in steel
is 3240 m/s.
From Snells Law:

Therefore:

Sin i Sin R
=
V1
V2
Sin i =

2680x0.7071
3240

Sin i = 0.5849

Incident angle = 35.8

Reflective mode conversion

Mode conversion also takes place when an ultrasonic beam
reflects at internal surfaces in solids, whether these are boundary
surfaces, machined features, or discontinuities. The relationship
between incident angle of a given beam and the relative amplitude
of the reflected and mode conversion beams for steel is shown
in the following graphs. They allow an assessment to be made
of the potential confusion in any given situation and can be used
to determine an alternative test angle to be chosen to avoid the
problem.
a) Incident compression wave
A compression wave incident on a steel to air interface will reflect
as a compression wave together with a mode converted shear wave.
For example, Figure 3.5 shows that at an incident angle (a) of 30
we find that b is around 15 but the relative amplitudes of the shear
wave and compression wave are 90% and 70% respectively. Both
will give strong signals if they reach the receiver. In the extreme
case, where a is around 60 and b around 30 we find that the
relative shear wave amplitude is 90% but the reflected compression
wave amplitude has fallen to only about 10%. For greater angles of
incidence than 60, the shear wave rapidly decreases in amplitude
and the compression wave recovers. Clearly we need to take care
in our interpretation of signals if we see that a compression wave in
steel is likely to meet a known reflecting surface in that part of the
graph where the shear wave amplitude is significant.

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Figure 3.5

Figure 3.6

b) Incident shear wave

A shear wave will reflect as a shear wave together with a mode
converted compression wave. Using the graph in Figure 3.6 we
can see that the most severe case is when the incident shear wave
meets a steel to air interface at about 30. The reflected shear wave
amplitude is very low and the mode-converted compression wave
is very strong and almost perpendicular to the test surface.

If the incident shear wave grazes a surface, in other words the

incident angle is around 90, there will be a mode conversion to
Rayleigh wave. This can happen when a shear wave grazes the
bore of a machined hole in the specimen. In that case the Rayleigh
wave will follow the bore surface and will reflect if it encounters
a sharp changes to the bore such as a keyway. If you are not aware
of the possibility, you may assume that there is a discontinuity in a
false position. An example is shown in Figure 3.7. Of course, when
you are aware of this phenomenon, you can use it to advantage
to find a crack in an otherwise blind position around a hole or
radius.
References
1. Ultrasonic Flaw Detection for Technicians - Third Edition, June
2004 by J C Drury.
2. Ultrasonic Flaw Detection in Metals Banks Oldfield &
Rawding ILIFFE 1962.

Figure 3.7

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The next article in this series will cover transducers for generating
and detecting sound waves.

Insight Vol 47 No 1 January 2005