Nondestructive adhesion testing by ultrasonic cavitation

An apparatus for adhesion testing comprising:

• a converter;
• a liquid medium;
• a vibratory horn including a tip end submerged in the liquid medium to generate a cavitation field in the liquid medium;
• and
• a stage adapted to move the vibratory horn relative to a surface of a component to locate areas of a coating on the surface of the component that are poorly adhered.

A method for adhesion testing comprising:

• submerging a tip end of a vibratory horn in a liquid medium;
• operating a converter, coupled to the vibratory horn, at a frequency and an amplitude to generate a cavitation field within the liquid medium;
• moving a component having a coating such that the coating passes through the cavitation field;
• and
• locating areas of the coating that are poorly adhered to the component by removing the areas of the coating that are poorly adhered, while not removing areas of the coating properly adhered to the component.

A method for adhesion testing comprising:

• submerging a tip end of a vibratory horn in a liquid medium;
• operating a converter, coupled to the vibratory horn, at a frequency and an amplitude to generate a cavitation field within the liquid medium;
• and
• moving the vibratory horn relative to a component having a coating such that a first portion of the coating is in the cavitation field;
• and
• locating areas of the coating that are poorly adhered to the component by removing the areas of the coating that are poorly adhered, while not removing areas of the coating properly adhered to the component.

A method for adhesion testing using ultrasonic cavitation comprising:

• submerging a tip end of a vibratory horn in a liquid medium, wherein the liquid medium includes water and a surfactant;
• operating a converter, coupled to the vibratory horn, at a frequency of about 20 MHz to generate a cavitation field within the liquid medium;
• mounting a component having an adhered coating on a stage such that the component is about 0.1-5 mm from the tip end of the vibratory horn;
• testing the adhesion of the entire coating by moving the stage so that the entire coating passes through the cavitation field.