Non-Contact Inspection of Ceramic Body Armor Plates

Ultran has developed the application to inspect ceramic body armor plates using non-contact ultrasound.

Transmissivity and time of flight measurements can be used to detect defects as well as to measure density.

Analysis was conducted at lower frequency (200 kHz) and higher frequency (1 MHz).

Samples demonstrated non-uniformities due to density variation as well as cracks and other defects.

Ceramic Body Armor Plates

Blue area of low transmission indicates a defective porous zone

Variation between samples indicates non-uniform density

Significant local variation within Sample 1