Advancing elastic wave imaging using thermal susceptibility of acoustic nonlinearity.

• Analytical interpretation of thermal susceptibility of acoustic nonlinearity in elastic waves. • A delicate approach of using thermal susceptibility of acoustic nonlinearity for material characterization. • Demonstrated capacity of advancing elastic wave-based material anomaly imaging. • Proven capacity of improving imaging precision and enhancing accuracy of elastic wave imaging. Despite proven effectiveness in characterizing material degradation and embryonic defects, the use of acoustic nonlinearity is restricted by its intrinsic vulnerability to measurement contamination and to fluctuations in ambient temperature in particular. Analytically, we shed light on the susceptibility of acoustic nonlinearity embodied in elastic waves to ambient temperature. Rather than eliminating or compensating for such thermal susceptibility, we subtly exploit it to advance nonlinear elastic wave imaging. Experimental validation corroborates theoretical prediction, spotlighting the capacity of the approach to improve the precision of material characterization using nonlinear elastic waves and therefore to enhance the accuracy of anomaly imaging when other nonlinearity sources interfere with the extraction of nonlinear attributes of elastic waves. Exploiting the thermal susceptibility of nonlinear attributes of elastic waves, a delicate approach is developed to evaluate material acoustic nonlinearity and visualize material anomalies, with proven capacity of improving imaging precision and enhancing imaging accuracy Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]