Acoustic inspection device and methods of operation

An inspection method comprising:

• transmitting acoustic waves from transducer having a concave face that includes one or more piezoelectric elements through a coupling medium and to a surface of a material sample to produce surface acoustic waves along a portion of a surface of the material sample, the one or more piezoelectric elements operating as an acoustic transmitter and an acoustic receiver;
• receiving the surface acoustic waves reflected from the surface of the material sample at the concave face;
• and
• determining at least one material characteristic of the material sample based on a property of the surface acoustic waves, the at least one material characteristic including one or more of a grain size, a grain orientation, a grain shape, a presence of a microtexture region, a size of a microtexture region, an intensity of a microtexture region, an orientation of a microtexture region, a macrotexture, dislocation content, and residual elastic compressive or tensile stresses.

An inspection method comprising:

• receiving surface acoustic wave data for a material sample from an acoustic inspection device;
• determining an acoustic score that is predictive of a microtexture region (MTR) level of the material sample, the acoustic score determined based on the surface acoustic wave data;
• and
• determining whether to accept or reject the material sample based on the acoustic score.