Thermoelastic generation of elastic waves for non-destructive testing and medical diagnostics

The generation of MHz elastic waves by means of thermoelastic expansions is described. Several multilayered structures are described which use constrained boundary conditions at the energy absorbing surface. Elastic waves of sufficient amplitude can be generated to be useful for non-destructive testing applications. Biomedical ultrasonics using thermoelastically generated MHz waves will also be discussed.