Ultrasonic imaging of sheet metal forming

With sheet metal hydroforming, a sheet metal is formed by a liquid medium under high pressure (up to 1000 bar) and a cavity contour (die). As the exact state of forming is of interest, an ultrasonic imaging system is under development. The task is to determine the geometry of a sheet metal contour with respect to the original (before forming) and the final (die) state of the sheet metal. For this purpose, two different contour reconstruction algorithms were designed, tested and compared. With the reconstruction results it will be possible to determine the optimal distribution of transmitters and receivers in the ultrasonic transducer matrix. Experiments were conducted with one pair of transducers (unfocussed, center frequency 2 MHz) and a three axis stepper motor set-up. For each experimental set of data, the contour was reconstructed with both SAFT reconstruction algorithms. Both algorithms incorporate a priori information such as original and final contour and maximal axial dislocation of the sheet metal. The results for both algorithms are compared and the relative mean error in axial direction is 0.30% and 0.48%.