UIT – Ultrasonic Impact Technology

Enhancing Productivity & Profit Potential on the Strength of Sound
The tremendous cost and downtime stemming from stress fatigue and metal corrosion can impact profitability and productivity of businesses in metal and machine-reliant industries on an annual basis. Answering the call for a more efficient and cost effective solution to these issues, UIT, or Ultrasonic Impact Technology has emerged as a faster, budget-compatible means of extending fatigue life. Using ultrasonic energy to combat corrosive and fatigue effects on a variety of metals, UIT from Applied Ultrasonics reduces downtime and repair costs, while increasing productivity and profit margins for businesses in a wide spectrum of industries.

Harnessing the Power of Ultrasonic Energy through UIT

UIT uses ultrasonic energy to alleviate metal fatigue and improve surface quality in metals. Ultrasonic energy is delivered into the surface through a series of free-floating pins on a specialized UIT tool that converts electrical frequency into mechanical movements. Once in contact, the ultrasonic waves modify the grain structure of the metal, relieve tensile stresses to a depth of 12mm, and create beneficial compressive stresses near the surface for extended periods of time.

Applied Ultrasonic's UIT Tool

The portability and configurability of the tool, provides UIT access to previously hard-to-reach areas that required excessive time to repair. This results in faster service calls and less downtime from lengthy repairs for businesses in a variety of industries.

The Growth of UIT

Originally created by Applied Ultrasonics to fortify hulls of nuclear submarines, UIT’s success in combating fatigue and corrosion problems, created a widespread demand for commercial applications in industries such as:

• Aerospace & Defense
• Infrastructure
• Mining
• Oil, Gas & Energy
• Shipbuilding & Transportation

The massive growth of UIT across these fields has undoubtedly stemmed from its advantages over conventional methods, such as shot peening, hammer peening, grinding, or drill stops in cost efficiency, speed of application, and long-term relief of debilitating tensile stresses.

Alleviating Tensile Stresses and Intergranular Deformation through UIT

Repetitive cyclic loading beyond specific thresholds creates destructive tensile stresses and deforms grains within the metal near the surface. As these stresses spread and deepen over time, the integrity of the material is compromised to the point of fatigue failure. UIT serves to restore the size, shape and orientation of a metal’s grains, while simultaneously forcing tensile stresses to a depth of 12mm and creating advantageous compressive stresses near the surface. This advanced process helps to improve surface quality, extend fatigue life, resist corrosion and increases hardness without sacrificing toughness in metals such as:

• Aluminum
• Titanium
• Bronze Alloys
• Steel
• Iron

UITs diversity, as well as its ease and speed of application on an array of metals in a various industries have vaulted its popularity among metal-dependent businesses. By overcoming exorbitant repair costs and periods of inactivity associated with previous attempts to combat metal fatigue, corrosion, tensile stress and limited weld life, UIT from Applied Ultrasonics allows businesses to increase profit margins and improve reliability in the structures and machinery they depend upon to succeed.