9616118 Thompson This award provides two years of support for the phase down of the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center at Iowa State University on Nondestructive Evaluation. The center was started in 1985, and the National Science Foundation support for these centers must be phased down after that period support. The objectives of the center are: (1) to pursue industrially relevant research in nondestructive evaluation problems of interest to the industrial members, (2) to cooperate with academic units of the university in promoting numbers of students in both undergraduate and graduate programs, and (3) to establish a major national focal point for technology transfer in the area of nondestructive evaluation. The research for the two year period includes development and evaluation of a library of ultrasonic scattering models for typical weld flaws; identification of model-based methods for extracting features inherent weld flaw signals for use in classification and characterization methods; demonstration of the capability of ultrasonic code for characterizing and classifying weld defects. The center has 21 supporting members (18 industrial + 3 government agencies and laboratories). Through the efforts of the center, a minor in nondestructive evaluation is now offered in the engineering curriculum at Iowa State University. The educational aspects of the center, and the impact of the center on education of graduate and undergraduate students is excellent. The interaction with industry is outstanding, resulting in a high rate of transfer of important technology to industry and governmental agencies and laboratories.
