Indian developments in ultrasonics and acoustic emission methods

Fundamental investigations in ultrasonics in India date back to the early 20th century. But, fundamental and applied research in the field of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) came much later. In the last four decades it has grown steadily in academic institutions, national laboratories and industry. Currently, commensurate with rapid industrial growth and realisation of the benefits of NDE, the activity is becoming much stronger, deeper, broader and very wide spread. Acoustic Emission (AE) is a recent entry into the field of nondestructive evaluation. Pioneering efforts in India in AE were carried out at the Indian Institute of Science in the early 1970s. The nuclear industry was the first to utilise it. Current activity in AE in the country spans materials research, incipient failure detection, integrity evaluation of structures, fracture mechanics studies and rock mechanics. In this paper, we attempt to project the current scenario in ultrasonics and acoustic emission research in India.