Ultrasonic array imaging algorithms have been widely developed and used for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) in the last two decades. In this paper two widely used time domain algorithms are compared with two emerging frequency domain algorithms in terms of imaging performance and computational speed. The time domain algorithms explored here are the total focusing method (TFM) and plane wave imaging (PWI) and the frequency domain algorithms are the wavenumber algorithm and Lu’s frequency-wavenumber domain implementation of PWI. In order to make a fair comparison, each algorithm was first investigated to choose imaging parameters leading to overall good imaging resolution and signal-to-noise-ratio. To reflect the diversity of samples encountered in NDE, the comparison is made using both a low noise material (aluminium) and a high noise material (copper). It is shown that whilst wavenumber and frequency domain PWI imaging algorithms can lead to fast imaging, they require careful selection of imaging parameters.

A modified optical visualization technique, which combines photoelastic and schlieren techniques, was used to study the generation and propagation of the first order antisymmetric leaky Lamb wave in a glass plate immersed in water. Special attention has been paid to the phenomena of acoustic energy leakage out of the waveguide as well as the scattering of radiated ultrasonic wave by a steel cylinder. Accordingly, a nondestructive ultrasonic testing technique based on the propagation of the first order antisymmetric leaky Lamb wave is proposed and implemented through a pulse-echo arrangement. It is also suggested that by measuring the times of flight of the scattered ultrasonic signals of two modes separately, the position of an obstacle away from the waveguide could be located.

Acoustic microimaging (AMI), a technology for high-resolution imaging of materials using a scanning acoustic microscope, has been widely used for non-destructive testing and evaluation of electronic packages. Recently, the internal features and defects of electronic packages have reached the resolution limits of conventional time domain or frequency domain AMI methods with the miniaturization of electronic packages. Various time-frequency domain AMI methods have been developed to achieve super-resolution. In this paper, the sparse representation of AMI signals is studied, and a constraint dictionary-based sparse representation (CD-SR) method is proposed. First, the time-frequency parameters of the atom dictionary are constrained according to the AMI signal to constitute a constraint dictionary. Then, the AMI signal is sparsely decomposed using the matching pursuit algorithm, and echoes selection and echoes reconstruction are performed. The performance of CD-SR was quantitatively evaluated by simulated and experimental ultrasonic A-scan signals. The results demonstrated that CD-SR has superior longitudinal resolution and robustness.