Phase-Consistency-Adaptive Multi-Path Total Focusing Ultrasonic Imaging for Delamination Quantification in L-Shaped CFRP Corner Parts

Abstract

The delay-and-sum total focusing method (TFM) for ultrasonic full matrix capture (FMC) depends on accurate ray path and travel time computation. In L-shaped carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) corner parts, elastic anisotropy, multilayer stacking, and curvature-induced ray path non-uniqueness generate strong stripe-like coherent clutter (deterministic structural echoes), degrading focusing and sizing. To address this, we search multiple physically plausible candidate ray paths and propose a phase-consistency-adaptive multi-path fusion TFM (PCA-MPF-TFM) that performs pixel-wise path selection and fusion. The method is validated using pulse-echo FMC data acquired with a water-immersion linear array from a 6.4 mm-thick L-shaped CFRP specimen containing three 3 mm-diameter polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) inserts; the two within the concave-side inspection region were quantitatively evaluated. Compared with conventional isotropic TFM, an edge-adjacent delamination previously masked by structural noise is consistently detected with a 9.2 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and a 0.2 mm length error. For the second delamination, the SNR improves by 25 dB and the length error decreases from 0.6 mm to 0.2 mm. Experimental results demonstrate improved defect detectability and noise robustness under curved, anisotropic, and multilayer propagation while maintaining sub-millimeter sizing accuracy.