Counterfeit identification menu expanded

SonLan, a division of Sonoscan, worked on the project to address the fact that counterfeiters are becoming more skilled at making fakes resemble genuine components. According to SonLan, using a greater number of acoustic techniques, increases the confidence factor when separating genuine parts from fake parts. Measuring two or three parameters may suggest that a part is genuine or fake but having a menu of 25 items on hand makes it easier to establish clear distinctions. Ray Thomas, SonoLab's manager, said: "The increase in useful tools is the result of our growing base of experience in separating counterfeit components from genuine parts – often within a mixed lot shipment. Our laboratories are seeing more questionable parts because the industry has become much more interested in weeding out counterfeit parts. Ideally, engineers have known genuine parts to which they can compare incoming parts." Thomas notes that identifying counterfeit parts may involve multiple disciplines - optical inspection, acoustic imaging, and sometimes X-ray. He continued: "Acoustic imaging is especially convincing because it has the flexibility to go after hard to imitate features and material characteristics such as acoustic impedance, filler particle distribution and bond integrity."