Surface wave calibration of acoustic emission sensors with laser-generated ultrasound

Abstract

Laser-generated surface wave is employed as a standard acoustic emission (AE) source to calibrate sensors. By choosing an appropriate laser-intensity, a nearly unipolar pulse with 100 ns duration was successfully realized. The surface excitation is measured by an optical interferometer and AE sensors simultaneously. Comparing these both outputs, the sensitivity of the sensors can be deduced in the wide frequency range. Experimental results on eight commercial sensors are demonstrated.