UAE  Christoph De Boeck Oct 2014 -

Christoph De Boeck prepares his project for 2016 in which he focuses on ultrasonic phenomena that occur within materials. After working with the resonance of steel sheets in several pieces, De Boeck will now articulate the microsound that is produced inside the structure of steel when it is under stress. Stress-induced mechanical defects in materials lead to internal friction, cracking or fracture. These events produce acoustic pressure waves with ultra-high frequencies, termed 'acoustic emissions'. Ultrasonic acoustic emissions can also be created by corrosion-induced relaxation of residual stress in the material, volume change due to chemical processes or by the "explosion" of hydrogen bubbles formed by corrosion. The sounds are inaudible because they can be situated in the range between 100 Kilohertz and 2 Megahertz.

De Boeck will collaborate with the Department of Metals and Materials Engineering of KU Leuven (MTM) in order to accelerate localised progression of corrosion, and to rescale the acoustic emissions so that they are rendered audible.