Laser ultrasonic imaging of wavefield spatial gradients for damage detection

This article describes a new damage visualization method to investigate and analyze propagating guided Lamb waves using analyses of wavefield spatial gradients. A laser ultrasonic interrogation system was used to create full-field ultrasonic data measurements for ultrasonic wavefield imaging. The laser scanning process was performed based on both a raster scan and a circle scan. From the high-resolution wavefield data, a spatial gradient–based image processing technique was developed using gradient vectors to extract features sensitive to defects. Local impedance changes at the damaged area would result in a local distortion of the waveform which was captured and quantified by the variation of the gradient vectors in the scanning area as time evolves. Such variation was accumulated over time with a statistical threshold filter to generate a gradient-orientation map for damage visualization. The proposed algorithm was capable of producing distinctive damage patterns when tested experimentally on a 3-mm aluminum plate with multiple simultaneous simulated defects. Compared to conventional techniques like local wavenumber estimation, the generation of the accumulated orientation map involves no filtering process in the frequency or wavenumber domain, at the expense of more accurate shaping of the defect. A spatial covariance analysis was adopted to locate damage from the results as well as to evaluate the correlation between different kinds of defects. Combining the proposed approach with conventional laser ultrasonic imaging techniques enables a fast and robust damage identification and characterization process which requires lower computational burden and practical operation.

Functional organization of intrinsic and feedback presynaptic inputs in the primary visual cortex

In the primary visual cortex (V1) of many mammalian species, neurons are spatially organized according to their preferred orientation into a highly ordered map. However, whether and how the various presynaptic inputs to V1 neurons are organized relative to the neuronal orientation map remain unclear. To address this issue, we constructed genetically encoded calcium indicators targeting axon boutons in two colors and used them to map the organization of axon boutons of V1 intrinsic and V2–V1 feedback projections in tree shrews. Both connections are spatially organized into maps according to the preferred orientations of axon boutons. Dual-color calcium imaging showed that V1 intrinsic inputs are precisely aligned to the orientation map of V1 cell bodies, while the V2–V1 feedback projections are aligned to the V1 map with less accuracy. Nonselective integration of intrinsic presynaptic inputs around the dendritic tree is sufficient to reproduce cell body orientation preference. These results indicate that a precisely aligned map of intrinsic inputs could reinforce the neuronal map in V1, a principle that may be prevalent for brain areas with function maps.

Analysis of Recrystallization Behavior of Hot-Deformed Austenite Reconstructed from EBSD Orientation Maps of Lath Martensite

The recrystallization behavior of hot-deformed austenite of 0.55% C low alloy steels at 900, 850 and 800°C was investigated by a conventional double-hit compression test and a new method which reconstructs the parent austenite orientation map from an EBSD (electron backscattering diffraction) orientation map of daughter lath martensite. The new method can clearly reconstruct the parent austenite structure at high temperature from the daughter lath martensite structure and we can obtain the information on crystal orientation of the work-hardened austenite. It was revealed that recrystallization of austenite at 800 °C is significantly retarded by the addition of 0.1% V. The strong texture of <110> parallel to the compression direction develops just after the hot-deformation, but this texture becomes weaker as the recrystallization progresses. By applying the reconstruction method, it becomes possible to evaluate various phenomena related to the hot-deformation of austenite