[en] Ultrasonic inspection of cast austenitic steel components has historically been plagued by difficulties in penetrating the material ultrasonically, low signal/noise ratio (SNR), and false indications. These difficulties are attributed to anisotropy of the elastic properties of relatively large grains. The anisotropy affects both the manner in which individual acoustic modes propagate and the directions in which they can propagate. A majority of research efforts have addressed the anisotropy primarily as it affects individual-mode propagation, using a single-preferred-axis model of the crystallographic structure. That model has not been fully successful in explaining experimental results. An alternative three-dimensionally anisotropic model of the cast austenitics is proposed and tested experimentally