Systems and Methods for Detecting Microtexture Regions in a Specimen

An inspection system comprising:

• at least one acoustic transmitter that is operable to transmit acoustic waves through an interaction volume of a specimen, wherein at least a portion of the interaction volume is disposed below a surface of the specimen;
• at least one acoustic receiver, the at least one acoustic receiver positioned to detect the acoustic waves;
• and
• a controller in operative communication with the at least one acoustic transmitter and the at least one acoustic receiver, the controller configured to:
• activate the at least one acoustic transmitter to transmit the acoustic waves, the acoustic waves including at least one of shear, longitudinal, or mixed mode waves;
• receive signal data indicative of two or more acoustic signals associated with two or more locations in time, space, or frequency, the two or more acoustic signals received from the at least one acoustic receiver;
• compute a quantified description of the two or more acoustic signals relative to each other;
• and
• determine a microstructural characteristic that is associated with the specimen based at least in part on the quantified description of the two or more acoustic signals.