PAPERS |
Kazunari MAKINO, Jiro YOHSO
Hiroshi SAKAMOTO, Hiromichi ISHIDUKA
An ultrasonic inspection technique is studied for a hollow axle whose inside diameter is 30 mm, which is manufactured on a trial basis for narrow-gauge railway vehicles. To compensate for the decrease in the sensitivity of crack detection due to the small inside diameter, a focused probe with a composite transducer is designed. It is demonstrated that the ultrasonic testing device thus developed can detect artificial flaws with a depth of 0.15 mm at the axle body (non-fitting part) and those with a depth of 0.3 mm at the wheel-seat inner end (fitting part). The accuracy of axle inspection for narrow-gauge railway vehicles equipped with such hollow axles will be the same as that of Shinkansen cars.
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