Microwave Nondestructive Detection and Evaluation of Disbonding and Delamination in Layered-Dielectric Slabs

A microwave nondestructive technique for detection and evaluation of disbonding and delamination in layered-dielectric-slabs backed by a conducting plate is discussed. The theoretical development begins by considering an incident wave illuminating such a medium and then formulating the characteristics of the wave reflected by the metal plate. An effective reflection coefficient is determined in this way whose phase characteristics are used in the detection and evaluation of delaminations in the media. The characteristics of this phase as a function of several parameters such as delamination dielectric constant and thickness, slab dielectric constant, and thickness and the frequency of operation are investigated. The description of an experimental apparatus is given and it is used to perform several experiments to test and verify the theory. Very good agreement was obtained between the theoretical and experimental results

Open-Ended Rectangular Waveguide for Nondestructive Thickness Measurement and Variation Detection of Lossy Dielectric Slabs Backed by a Conducting Plate

Solutions of fields inside a slab of a generally lossy dielectric medium backed by a conducting plate, placed outside a waveguide-fed rectangular aperture, are evoked in the application to the microwave nondestructive thickness measurement of such dielectric slabs. Upon construction of the waveguide terminating admittance expression from its variational form, an inverse problem is then solved to extract the slab thickness from the conductance and susceptance in a recursive manner. A comparison between the experimental and theoretical results showed that the significance of higher order modes is minimal; hence, the dominant mode assumption is, in general, valid to describe the aperture field distribution. The validity of this assumption has led to the construction of a simple integral solution which is fast converging for generally lossy dielectric slabs, and may easily be implemented for realtime applications. Experiments were conducted to verify the theoretical findings. Good agreement was obtained between the theoretical and experimental results. Multiple thicknesses of two different dielectric samples were estimated in this way

Analysis of Radiation from an Open-Ended Coaxial Line into Stratified Dielectrics

Radiation from an open-ended coaxial transmission line into an N-layer dielectric medium is studied in application to nondestructive evaluation of materials. Explicit formulations for two cases of layered media, one terminated into an infinite half-space and the other into a conducting sheet are addressed in general form. In the theoretical derivations it is assumed that only the fundamental TEM mode propagates inside the coaxial line. The terminating admittance of the line is then formulated using the continuity of the power flow across the aperture. The admittance expressions for specific cases of two-layer dielectric composite with generally lossy dielectric properties, and a two-layer composite backed by a conducting sheet are presented and inspected explicitly. The numerical results of the aperture admittance formulation are discussed and compared with the available infinite half-space model which had been experimentally verified

A Novel Numerical Technique for Dielectric Measurement of Generally Lossy Dielectrics

A method for determining the dielectric properties of infinite half-space of generally lossy dielectric materials is described. This method utilizes the measurement of the admittance of a rectangular waveguide radiating into such dielectrics. It is shown that the real part of the admittance is relatively insensitive to the variations of the imaginary part of the dielectric constant. Subsequently, a numerical procedure is initiated which provides a simple and fast-converging approach for calculating the dielectric properties. This numerical procedure lends itself to implementation by personal computers--a major advantage over the existing computational schemes. The theoretical formulation for the expression of the admittance of an open-ended waveguide and the numerical procedure are discussed in detail. Results of several measurements of freespace and lossy dielectric samples (rubber with carbon black) to verify the theory and the numerical scheme are given. The results give good agreement with other measurement schemes. Comments on the accuracy of the results are also provided

Microwave Noncontact Examination of Disbond and Thickness Variation in Stratified Composite Media

Numerical and experimental results of a microwave noncontact, nondestructive detection and evaluation of disbonds and thickness variations in stratified composite media are presented. The aperture admittance characteristics of a flange mounted rectangular waveguide radiating into a layered, generally lossy dielectric media backed or unbacked by a conducting sheet is modeled. The theoretical implementation is based on a Fourier transform boundary matching technique to construct the field components in each medium, coupled with a stationary form of the terminating aperture admittance of the waveguide. The model can serve as a reliable test bed for real-time examination of layered composite media. Experimental results for several cases are presented which show good agreement with the theoretical findings. This is a versatile technique for near-field in situ interrogation of stratified composite media which provides for high resolution measurements

Calibration and Measurement of Dielectric Properties of Finite Thickness Composite Sheets with Open-Ended Coaxial Sensors

The application of open-ended coaxial sensors for dielectric measurement of finite thickness composite sheets is studied. Expressions for calculation of the complex aperture admittance for two geometries are presented. These expressions are used to calculate the dielectric constant of infinite half-space as well as finite thickness slabs. A more efficient method of such calculations, using a personal computer, for low to medium loss dielectrics is demonstrated. The question of when a dielectric layer may be considered as infinitely thick is also addressed, and examples are presented. A different calibration technique (compared to the conventional ones) is described and successfully implemented. This calibration technique utilizes a dielectric sheet with known dielectric properties and thickness. Measurements for different airgaps between the open-ended coaxial line and the dielectric sheet are used to perform and enhance the calibration. The results of this calibration technique and several subsequent measurements are presented and discussed

Microwave Diagnosis of Rubber Compounds

The results of a study investigating the dielectric properties of rubber compounds and their constituents in the frequency range of 5 to 24 GHz are presented. A completely filled short circuited waveguide technique was used to conduct these dielectric measurements. The influence of carbon black content in rubber was investigated for carefully prepared rubber samples. The results showed that for all frequencies, the dielectric constant increases as a function of increasing carbon black content. The variation of dielectric constant values decreases as frequency increases. The presence of curatives in uncured rubber samples was also detected, which indicates the sensitivity of microwaves to the chemical reaction triggered by curatives