Ultrasonic Measurement of Closed Stress Corrosion Crack Depth Using Subharmonic Phased Array

We formed a stress corrosion crack (SCC) more than 10 mm deep to simulate those generated in atomic power plants. We precisely imaged the formed SCC by a novel imaging method, namely, the subharmonic phased array for crack evaluation (SPACE), and found that it had complex branches. Subsequently, we cut the specimen for the optical observation of the cross sections, and discussed the origin of the SCC extension on the basis of the optical microscopic observation of the cross sections. To examine the open and closed parts of crack in the optical images, we superposed the crack extracted from the optical images onto the SPACE images. We compared the optically and SPACE-measured crack depths, and demonstrated that SPACE is useful in reducing the underestimation of closed-crack depths.