Characterization of mineral contents on androgen deficient and chronic ethanol consuming rats by biochemistry and non-destructive techniques

Ethanol can compromise the body mineral composition and affect bone, and when associated to hypogonadism is considered an important risk factor for osteoporosis in man. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of androgen deficient and chronic ethanol consuming on mineral contents by biochemistry and non-destructive techniques. Wistar rat (n=54) were divided in orchiectomy (ORQ) or SHAM-operated and subdivided by diet. They were daily fed with a Lieber DeCarli diet model for 8 weeks long. The controls groups were free-diet and pair-fed. Ca and P were analyzed by biochemistry test in the blood and by nX-ray fluorescence and FT-Raman on the femur area. Serum analysis revealed hypocalcaemia and hypeiphosphataemia in ethanol groups more than pair-fed and free-diet. In similarity, spectroscopy indicated a decrease in bone Ca content in ORQ groups, mainly for ethanol groups. Phosphorus content and Ca/P molar ratio, otherwise, doesn't diverge in all 6 groups. Ethanol consumption impaired Ca and P homeostasis in ORQ rat more than SHAM. The relationships among ethanol consume and androgen deficit support the hypothesis that ethanol affects the mineral-regulating hormones and may mediate some effects on bone. These findings demonstrate that ethanol seemed to interfere with the normal compensatory response to these Ca and P levels and is more significant M androgen deficiency rats.

Development of a method fon non-destructive testing of fruits using scanning laser vibrometry (SLV)

Quality control on fruits requires reliable methods, able to assess with reasonable accuracy and possibly in a non-destructive way their physical and chemical characteristics. More specifically, a decreased firmness indicates the presence of damage or defects in the fruit or else that the fruit has exceeded its “best before date”, becoming unsuitable for consumption. In high-value exotic fruits, such as mangoes, where firmness cannot be easily measured from a simple observation of texture, colour changes and unevenness of fruits surface, the use of non-destructive techniques is highly recommendable. In particular, the application of Laser vibrometry, based on the Doppler effect, a non-contact technique sensitive to differences in displacements inferior to the nanometre, appears ideal for a possible on-line control on food. Previous results indicated that a phase shift can be in a repeatable way associated with the presence of damage on the fruit, whilst a decreased firmness results in significant differences in the displacement of the fruits under the same excitation signal. In this work, frequency ranges for quality control via the application of a sound chirp are suggested, based on the measurement of the signal coherence. The variations of the average vibration spectrum of a grid of points, or of point-by-point signal velocity allows the go-no go recognition of “firm” and “over-ripe” fruits, with notable success in the particular case of mangoes. The future exploitation of this work will include the application of this method to allow on-line control during conveyor belt distribution of fruits.

Non-Destructive Identification of Woolly Peaches combining Mechanical Impact Response and NIR Spectroscopy.

Woolliness (mealiness in other fruits) is a negative attribute of peach sensory texture that is a physiological disorder associated with inadequate cold storage. It is characterised by lack of crispness and juiciness without variation in the tissue water content (Harker and Hallet, 1992). Many attempts have been made to develop destructive instrumental procedures to detect mealiness and woolliness. Non-destructive procedures attempted include using nuclear magnetic resonance (Sonego et al., 1995). However, this technique has economical limitations and is not practical at present. Non-destructive impact tests and NIR are non-destructive techniques which have been used to assess internal characteristics of fruits (Chen and Sun, 1991). The objective of this study was to develop a novel non-destructive procedure to identify woolly peaches by combining impact and NIR approaches.

Assessment of laser peening induced effects on Ti6Al4V by non-destructive measurements

Assessment of laser peening induced effects on Ti6Al4V by destructive and non-destructive techniques

Sparse arrays and image compounding techniques for non-destructive testing using guided acoustic waves

Piezoelectric array transducers applications are becoming usual in the ultrasonic non-destructive testing area. However, the number of elements can increase the system complexity, due to the necessity of multichannel circuitry and to the large amount of data to be processed. Synthetic aperture techniques, where one or few transmission and reception channels are necessary, and the data are post-processed, can be used to reduce the system complexity. Another possibility is to use sparse arrays instead of a full-populated array. In sparse arrays, there is a smaller number of elements and the interelement spacing is larger than half wavelength. In this work, results of ultrasonic inspection of an aluminum plate with artificial defects using guided acoustic waves and sparse arrays are presented. Synthetic aperture techniques are used to obtain a set of images that are then processed with an image compounding technique, which was previously evaluated only with full-populated arrays, in order to increase the resolution and contrast of the images. The results with sparse arrays are equivalent to the ones obtained with full-populated arrays in terms of resolution. Although there is an 8 dB contrast reduction when using sparse arrays, defect detection is preserved and there is the advantage of a reduction in the number of transducer elements and data volume. © 2013 Brazilian Society for Automatics - SBA.

Experimental assessment of environmental decay effects in masonry via non destructive diagnostic techniques and mechanical tests

Environmental decay in porous masonry materials, such as brick and mortar, is a widespread problem concerning both new and historic masonry structures. The decay mechanisms are quite complex dependng upon several interconnected parameters and from the interaction with the specific micro-climate. Materials undergo aesthetical and substantial changes in character but while many studies have been carried out, the mechanical aspect has been largely understudied while it bears true importance from the structural viewpoint. A quantitative assessment of the masonry material degradation and how it affects the load-bearing capacity of masonry structures appears missing. The research work carried out, limiting the attention to brick masonry addresses this issue through an experimental laboratory approach via different integrated testing procedures, both non-destructive and mechanical, together with monitoring methods. Attention was focused on transport of moisture and salts and on the damaging effects caused by the crystallization of two different salts, sodium chloride and sodium sulphate. Many series of masonry specimens, very different in size and purposes were used to track the damage process since its beginning and to monitor its evolution over a number of years Athe same time suitable testing techniques, non-destructive, mini-invasive, analytical, of monitoring, were validated for these purposes. The specimens were exposed to different aggressive agents (in terms of type of salt, of brine concentration, of artificial vs. open-air natural ageing, …), tested by different means (qualitative vs. quantitative, non destructive vs. mechanical testing, punctual vs. wide areas, …), and had different size (1-, 2-, 3-header thick walls, full-scale walls vs. small size specimens, brick columns and triplets vs. small walls, masonry specimens vs. single units of brick and mortar prisms, …). Different advanced testing methods and novel monitoring techniques were applied in an integrated holistic approach, for quantitative assessment of masonry health state.

Non-destructive measurement techniques for taper equation development: a study case in the Spanish Northern Iberian Range

In recent years, the technology for measuring the diameter and height of standing trees has improved significantly. These enhancements allow estimation of the volume of standing trees using stem taper equations, which traditionally have been constructed with data from felled trees, in an accurate and economically feasible way. A nondestructive method was evaluated with data from 38 pines and was validated with data from another 38 pines, both in the Northern Iberian Range (Spain). The electronic dendrometer Criterion RD1000 (Laser Technology Inc.) and the laser hypsometer TruPulse (Laser Technology Inc.) were used due to their accuracy and interoperability. The methodology was valid (unbiased and precise) measuring from a distance similar to the height of the tree. In this distance, statistical criteria and plots based on the residuals showed no clear advantage in volume estimation with models fitted with data from destructive methods against models fitted with data from the proposed non-destructive technique. This methodology can be considered useful for individual volume estimation and for developing taper equations.

Survey of non-destructive tire inspection techniques. Preliminary memorandum.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Near infrared spectroscopy for non-destructive evaluation of articular cartilage

There is a need for an accurate real-time quantitative system that would enhance decision-making in the treatment of osteoarthritis. To achieve this objective, significant research is required that will enable articular cartilage properties to be measured and categorized for health and functionality without the need for laboratory tests involving biopsies for pathological evaluation. Such a system would provide the capability of access to the internal condition of the cartilage matrix and thus extend the vision-based arthroscopy that is currently used beyond the subjective evaluation of surgeons. The system required must be able to non-destructively probe the entire thickness of the cartilage and its immediate subchondral bone layer. In this thesis, near infrared spectroscopy is investigated for the purpose mentioned above. The aim is to relate it to the structure and load bearing properties of the cartilage matrix to the near infrared absorption spectrum and establish functional relationships that will provide objective, quantitative and repeatable categorization of cartilage condition outside the area of visible degradation in a joint. Based on results from traditional mechanical testing, their innovative interpretation and relationship with spectroscopic data, new parameters were developed. These were then evaluated for their consistency in discriminating between healthy viable and degraded cartilage. The mechanical and physico-chemical properties were related to specific regions of the near infrared absorption spectrum that were identified as part of the research conducted for this thesis. The relationships between the tissue's near infrared spectral response and the new parameters were modeled using multivariate statistical techniques based on partial least squares regression (PLSR). With significantly high levels of statistical correlation, the modeled relationships were demonstrated to possess considerable potential in predicting the properties of unknown tissue samples in a quick and non-destructive manner. In order to adapt near infrared spectroscopy for clinical applications, a balance between probe diameter and the number of active transmit-receive optic fibres must be optimized. This was achieved in the course of this research, resulting in an optimal probe configuration that could be adapted for joint tissue evaluation. Furthermore, as a proof-of-concept, a protocol for obtaining the new parameters from the near infrared absorption spectra of cartilage was developed and implemented in a graphical user interface (GUI)-based software, and used to assess cartilage-on-bone samples in vitro. This conceptual implementation has been demonstrated, in part by the individual parametric relationship with the near infrared absorption spectrum, the capacity of the proposed system to facilitate real-time, non-destructive evaluation of cartilage matrix integrity. In summary, the potential of the optical near infrared spectroscopy for evaluating articular cartilage and bone laminate has been demonstrated in this thesis. The approach could have a spin-off for other soft tissues and organs of the body. It builds on the earlier work of the group at QUT, enhancing the near infrared component of the ongoing research on developing a tool for cartilage evaluation that goes beyond visual and subjective methods.

Non-destructive evaluation of porosity and its effect on mechanical properties of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite materials

In this work, an attempt is made to induce porosity of varied levels in carbon fiber reinforced epoxy based polymer composite laminates fabricated using prepregs by varying the fabrication parameters such as applied vacuum, autoclave pressure and curing temperature. Different NDE tools have been utilized to evaluate the porosity content and correlate with measurable parameters of different NDE techniques. Primarily, ultrasonic imaging and real time digital X-ray imaging have been tried to obtain a measurable parameter which can represent or reflect the amount of porosity contained in the composite laminate. Also, effect of varied porosity content on mechanical properties of the CFRP composite materials is investigated through a series of experimental investigations. The outcome of the experimental approach has yielded interesting and encouraging trend as a first step towards developing an NDE tool for quantification of effect of varied porosity in the polymer composite materials.

Novel piezoelectric thin film impact sensor: application in non-destructive material discrimination

We report on the design, development, and performance study of a packaged piezoelectric thin film impact sensor, and its potential application in non-destructive material discrimination. The impact sensing element employed was a thin circular diaphragm of flexible Phynox alloy. Piezoelectric ZnO thin film as an impact sensing layer was deposited on to the Phynox alloy diaphragm by RF reactive magnetron sputtering. Deposited ZnO thin film was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques. The d(31) piezoelectric coefficient value of ZnO thin film was 4.7 pm V-1, as measured by 4-point bending method. ZnO film deposited diaphragm based sensing element was properly packaged in a suitable housing made of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) material. Packaged impact sensor was used in an experimental set-up, which was designed and developed in-house for non-destructive material discrimination studies. Materials of different densities (iron, glass, wood, and plastic) were used as test specimens for material discrimination studies. The analysis of output voltage waveforms obtained reveals lots of valuable information about the impacted material. Impact sensor was able to discriminate the test materials on the basis of the difference in their densities. The output response of packaged impact sensor shows high linearity and repeatability. The packaged impact sensor discussed in this paper is highly sensitive, reliable, and cost-effective.

Non-Destructive Evaluation of Defects and Damage in Composite Materials and Structures

The mechanical behaviour of composite materials differs from that of conventional structural materials owing to their heterogeneous and anisotropic nature. Different types of defects and anomalies get induced in these materials during the fabrication process. Further, during their service life, the components made of composite materials develop different types of damage. The performance and life of such components is governed by the combined effect of all these defects and damage. While porosity, voids, inclusions etc., are some defects those can get induced during the fabrication of composites, matrix cracks, interface debonds, delaminations and fiber breakage are major types of service induced damage which are of concern. During the service life of components made of composites, one type of damage can grow and initiate another type of damage. For example, matrix cracks can gradually grow to the interface and initiate debonds. Interface debonds in a particular plane can lead to delaminations. Consequently, the combined effect of different types of distributed damage causes the failure of the component. A set of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods is well established for testing conventional metallic materials. Some of them can also be utilized for composite materials as they are, and in some cases with a little different approach or modification. Ultrasonics, Radiography, Thermography, Fiber Optics, Acoustic Emision Techniques etc., to name a few. Detection, evaluation and characterization of different types of defects and damage encountered in composite materials and structures using different NDE tools is discussed briefly in this paper.

Hydroacoustic surveys: a non-destructive approach to monitoring fish distributions at National Marine Sanctuaries

The science of fisheries acoustics and its applicability to resource management have evolved over the past several decades. This document provides a basic description of fisheries acoustics and recommendations on using this technology for research and monitoring of fish distributions and habitats within sanctuaries. It also describes recent efforts aimed at applying fisheries acoustics to Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) (Figure 1). Historically, methods to assess the underwater environment have included net trawls, diver censuses, hook and line, video, sonar and other techniques deployed in a variety of ways. Fisheries acoustics, using active sonar, relies on the physics of sound traveling through water to quantify the distribution of biota in the water column. By sending a signal of a given frequency through the water column and recording the time of travel and the strength of the reflected signal, it is possible to determine the size and location of fish and estimate biomass from the acoustic backscatter. As a fisheries assessment tool, active hydroacoustics technology is an efficient, non-intrusive method of mapping the water column at a very fine spatial and temporal resolution. It provides a practical alternative to bottom and mid-water trawls, which are not allowed at GRNMS. Passive acoustics, which uses underwater hydrophones to record man-made and natural sounds such as fish spawning calls and sounds produced by marine mammals for communication and echolocation, can provide a useful, complementary survey tool. This report primarily deals with active acoustics, although the integration of active and passive acoustics is addressed as well. (PDF contains 32 pages)