Ultrasonic Testing System For Thickness Control Of Thin Copper Tube

In the course of copper tube formation, thin copper tube of 1～2mm thickness can be obtained by multi-drawing. Sometimes, the difference in the thickness of copper tube will exceed expectations value on account of various reasons during the course of drawing. In order to obtain thickness information, an ultrasonic testing system which can measure thickness of thin copper tube was developed. Then, the thickness information from the system can be applied to the thickness controlling.Thickness information can be acquired by this ultrasonic testing system with the method which is thickness measurement at 6-points. The measurement method is achieved through six ultrasonic transducers which evenly place on the circumference of thin copper tube. This system consists of three parts:1. Ultrasonic hardware. This part includes ultrasonic transducers which are developed and cards which are selected. The former is the core of ultrasonic hardware, the latter, which involve ultrasonic card and control cards, are the subsidiary parts. The ultrasonic hardware can be used to measure thickness after system debug.2. Actuating mechanism. On the basis of the studies for various mechanisms, the clamping equipment and radial motion equipment are developed. The former clamps the ultrasonic transducers, the latter realizes centering location of ultrasonic transducers.3. Ultrasonic software. This software, which is developed by VC++, can achieve instant display and transfers of the 6-points' ultrasonic signals. Then, the software can deal with the measurement signals through the embedded data algorithm and give the testing result.The outcome of experiment indicates that the testing system can achieve the 1～2mm thickness measurement of thin copper tube commendably. The maximum testing accuracy can meet the testing requirement(≤0.1 mm). The ultrasonic testing system benefits the studies related to the development of thin-wall testing and system.