Ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques for characterizing material properties in manufactured products are becoming valuable tools for detecting anomalies early in the manufacturing process. In particular, a system for on-line characterization of the microstructure in rolled sheet metal is already available for predicting formability parameters [1]. Other key mechanical properties that are very sensitive to the microstructure such as yield strength and hardness are currently being measured off-line using slow and expensive destructive tests. As on-line techniques become available, it will become possible to detect sub-standard properties before large quantities of low grade material were produced.