Viewing the Vibration and Checking the Condition of an UT Probe

approx. 100 to 150 words) The vibration of an ultrasonic transducer generates ultrasonic wave for ultrasonic test. To get proper ultrasonic wave for the ultrasonic test the ultrasonic transducer vibrates properly. If it is possible to watch the vibration at the surface of an ultrasonic transducer, it is possible to check the propriety. But there is no way to see or to show the vibration of an ultrasonic transducer directly until now. We use a laser vibrometer to get a vibration signal at a point of an ultrasonic transducer surface and scan over the surface to get full vibration information. The full vibration information composes [x, y, t] 3 dimensional data array and it is possible to show the surface shape of the ultrasonic transducer at each time t from the data. By increasing or decreasing the time t of the data continuously an animation of the vibration can be showed. We can see the vibration pattern and can check the condition of the ultrasonic transducer by viewing the animation. Also defects of the ultrasonic transducer can be detected from the animation.