Ultrasonic Techniques to Characterize Pultruded Composite Members

This paper presents ultrasonic methodologies to measure the engineering constants of pultruded fiber-reinforced polymeric (FRP) composite structural members. These ultrasonic methods have several advantages over mechanical tests, particularly the ability to make a localized measurement of all of the engineering constants in a structural component. This research blends immersion and contact ultrasonic methodologies with surface acoustic wave measurements to completely characterize the elastic properties of FRP specimens. The elastic constants that are measured nondestructively are compared to values measured with mechanical tests (for exactly the same specimens), and the advantages of the ultrasonic methodologies are clearly shown.