C Scan

The C-scan presentation provides a plan-type view of the location and size of test specimen features. The plane of the image is parallel to the scan pattern of the transducer. C-scan presentations are produced with an automated data acquisition system, such as a computer controlled immersion scanning system. Typically, a data collection gate is established on the A-scan and the amplitude or the time-of-flight of the signal is recorded at regular intervals as the transducer is scanned over the test piece. The relative signal amplitude or the time-of-flight is displayed as a shade of gray or a color for each of the positions where data was recorded. The C-scan presentation provides an image of the features that reflect and scatter the sound within and on the surfaces of the test piece.
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a two dimensional presentation of data displayed as a top or planar view of a test piece, similar in its graphic perspective to an x-ray image, where color represents the gated signal amplitude or depth at each point in the test piece mapped to its position. Planar images can be generated on flat parts by tracking data to X-Y position, or on cylindrical parts by tracking axial and angular position. For conventional ultrasound, a mechanical scanner with encoders is used to track the transducer's coordinates to the desired index resolution. The images that follow conceptually show C-scans of a reference block made with a conventional immersion scanning system using a focused immersion transducer.
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C-scan from a phased array system is very similar to the one from the conventional probe seen above. With phased array systems however, the probe is typically moved physically along one axis while the beam electronically scans along the other according to the focal law sequence. Signal amplitude or depth data is collected within gated region of interest just as in conventional C-scans. In the case of phased arrays, data is plotted with each focal law progression, using the programmed beam aperture.