Patent ID: 7415865

Claim:
A method of determining the extent of a lateral shadow zone corresponding to an edge of a part, in a method of inspecting the part in immersion with at least one ultrasound beam emitted by a transducer oriented perpendicularly to a surface of the part, the transducer being at a predetermined distance from the surface of the part, the method comprising: measuring the amplitude of an echo of the ultrasound beam as a function of the distance of the axis of the ultrasound beam from an edge of the part or from an edge of a beam deflector element disposed on the surface of the part; determining the effective section of the ultrasound beam from variations in the amplitude of the echo of the ultrasound beam as a function of the distance of the axis of the ultrasound beam from the edge of the part or from the edge of the beam deflector element; and determining the extent of the shadow zone from the effective section of the ultrasound beam, the extent of the shadow zone for the determined distance between the transducer and the surface of the part being equal to the radius of the effective section of the beam at the surface of the part.