Comparative study of wide-band ultrasonic transducers

The relative performance of several types of ultrasonic transducer are assessed using reproducible acoustic transients generated from Q-switched Nd:YAG laser pulses incident on an aluminium alloy sample. A laser interferometer, a capacitance transducer, two types of electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs), and a broad-band piezoelectric transducer are examined as detectors. The comparison includes a study of their rise-times, and typical signal-to-noise ratios. In the case of the interferometer and capacitance transducer, displacement measurements are shown to be highly consistent with theory.     

Diffraction phenomena in the field of a circular piezoelectric transducer viewed in the time domain

Transient diffraction phenomena in the field of a piston transducer have been explained theoretically in terms of the direct and edge wave contributions to the piston response. Previous experimental studies by other workers have verified this concept for single cycles of 4 MHz radiation. Faster transients are difficult to study using thin piezoelectric transducers due to transducer resonance. Thick piezoelectric transducers of very low resonant frequency can be used to generate and receive step function acoustic transients with rise times of 20 ns or less and the problems of transducer resonance can be avoided. Experimental results are presented which show that when such a step function is propagated between two thick transducers the time course of the received wave can be explained in terms of the direct wave/edge wave model in conjunction with the theory of transient reverberations in piezoelectric elements.     

Analysis of unidirectional broadband piezoelectric spherical shell transducers for underwater acoustics

This paper presents an analytical investigation and experimental verification of the properties of unidirectional broadband piezoelectric acoustic transducers utilizing axisymmetric vibrations of both complete and incomplete spherical piezoelectric shells and is a continuation of a previous paper that presented the electromechanical modal analysis part of the problem [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 130(2), 753-763 (2011)]. The analysis covers the treatment of the acoustic radiation and reception problem by including analysis of the acoustic impedances and diffraction coefficients as a function of geometry and modal excitation as well as providing specific design examples including multimode spherical acoustic transducers with conformal baffles, and transducers made of incomplete shells (e.g., hemispheres and caps) with free circumferential boundary conditions. The energy method is used to obtain equivalent parameters for a multi-contour electromechanical circuit representation of the transducer and to calculate the transducer performance characteristic as sound projectors and as receivers. Experimental results are obtained on representative piezoceramic transducer prototypes and are in good agreement with the analytical results.     

外接LC电路的可调压电换能器的频率特性

压电换能器往往因受到温度与负载的影响,导致其谐振频率、反谐振频率和机械品质因数等特征参数发生变化。通过在压电换能器中设计用于调节的压电陶瓷片,并在调节压电陶瓷片两端外接电负载,可以实现压电换能器的频率调节,修正由于温度和负载导致的频率漂移。基于压电换能器的Mason等效电路,建立外接LC调节电路的压电换能器的谐振频率、反谐振频率模型,分析LC调节电路中调节电感对频率调节特性的影响;通过实验研究外接LC调节电路对可调压电换能器机械品质因数的影响,并验证调节电感对频率调节特性的影响。理论分析和实验研究的结果表明:随着调节电感的增大,调节电容对频率的调节灵敏度提高,可调压电换能器的频率调节宽度拓宽,但也会使压电换能器的机械品质因数降低。合理选择调节电感和调节电容能兼顾频率调节宽度和机械品质因数的要求。此研究可为后续自适应压电换能器的频率调节系统设计提供指导。      

厚度模压电超声换能器无源声学材料研究进展*

厚度模压电超声换能器作为超声波发射、接收以及电信号间转换的载体,是超声成像与检测系统的核心器件,一般由压电层、匹配层和背衬层3部分组成。超声换能器的性能一定程度上决定着整体超声设备的性能,影响了其在工业、医学、军事等领域的应用。该换能器的关键性能指标(带宽、灵敏度)除了受到压电层的影响,还与匹配层、背衬层等无源声学材料的设计密切相关。该文综述了近年来厚度模压电超声换能器无源声学材料(匹配层、背衬层和声透镜)的研究进展,提出了当前该类材料面临的难题和解决途径,并对其未来发展方向进行了展望。     

Transmission circuits for thick-transducer ultrasound transmission test systems

Pulse techniques for the measurement of ultrasonic absorption over a wide frequency bandwidth are limited by the narrow band nature of conventional piezoelectric transducers. This problem can be overcome if the piezoelectric devices are operated as thick elements. In this paper the insertion characteristics of transducers operating in this mode are determined. The compromise between system sensitivity, bandwidth and noise generation in receiving circuits is examined.It is shown that high voltage generators with rise times of a few nanoseconds are required to drive thick transmission transducers. The design of suitable generators, based on avalanche operation of one or more bipolar transistors is described in detail. It is concluded that exciting signals of sufficient amplitude and short enough rise-time could be generated for absorption measurements to be made over at least two decades of frequency with a dynamic range of 100 dB without a change of transducer.     

Interaction of light with acoustic microwave waves excited by nonperiodic multielement transducers. Part I

The feasibility of effective wide-band acoustooptic interaction in the short-wave part of the microwave range by means of nonperiodic multielement piezoelectric transducers is analyzed. The variation of the pitch or the period of the transducer sections is discussed. The impedance of a piezoelectric element with an arbitrary number of transformable layers and the acoustic power radiated from each of the piezoelements of the transducer are calculated. A 13-section transducer designed for a center frequency of 9 GHz is considered as an example.     

Piezoelectric transducer vibrations in a one-dimensional approximation

Summary The theory of piezoelectric transducer vibrations, which may be treated as onedimensional, is developed in detail for thin discs vibrating in a pure thickness extensional mode. An effort has been made to obtain relations of general validity, which include losses, and which are in a simple explicit form convenient for practical calculations. The behaviour of transducers is discussed with special attention to their characteristics at the two fundamental frequencies, the so-called parallel and series resonances. Several peculiarities occur when transducers are coupled to media with considerably different acoustic impedances. These peculiarities are discussed and illustrated by numerical results for quartz and PZT 4 piezoelectric discs radiating into water, air and liquid hydrogen. The application of the theory to different types of vibrations is briefly illustrated for thin bars vibrating longitudinally. Short discussions are included on compound transducer systems, and on the properties of thin discs as receivers.     

Broadband multimode baffled piezoelectric cylindrical shell transducers

Hollow piezoelectric cylindrical shell transducers may be made directional for underwater acoustic applications by the use of suitable acoustical baffles and the operational bandwidth may be extended by using multiple resonant modes. A theoretical and experimental investigation was performed for circumferentially baffled piezoelectric cylindrical shell transducers operating in the zero and one modes of extensional vibration. The frequency responses and directivity patterns were analyzed under various conditions of energizing separate halves of electrodes. It was found that the broadest frequency response with nearly constant beamwidth can be obtained when the two halves of the piezoelectric ring are electromechanically excited 90 deg out-of-phase. The experimental results obtained with a proof-of-concept transducer were in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.     

Design of a self-calibrating simulated acoustic emission source

The use of conical piezoelectric transducers as point acoustic sources has been investigated. It has been shown that transducers based on a design originally developed at the National Institute for Standards and Technology in the USA can be used as point transmitters over the frequency range of interest in acoustic emission measurements (100 kHz to around 1 MHz). They should, therefore, be suitable for use in experiments to calibrate structures so that acoustic emission source strengths can be determined. It has also been shown that measurements of the response of the transmitting transducer backing can be used to assess the coupling efficiency, and hence to remove concerns about inconsistent coupling affecting the calibration measurements. The results indicate that the variation of the backing response with coupling is due to a shift in the resonance frequencies of the transducer with the mechanical load impedance. If other transducers can be shown to behave in a similar fashion this effect could be used to measure coupling in standard acoustic emission and ultrasonic transducers.     

Q factor of lithium niobate piezoelectric transducers at high excitation levels

The variations of the electroacoustic parameters (Q factor, electromechanical coupling coefficient, and capacitance) of lithium niobate piezoelectric transducers with increasing high-frequency excitation voltage are studied experimentally. The relative acoustic strain is found to reach a maximum of about 10^?4 in the frequency range from 2 to 3 MHz. The Q factor of the transducers may increase by 100% in the range of acoustic strains studied. This increase is accompanied with acoustic emission. The reason for this effect is the block structure of the lithium niobate crystal.     

Study on the multifrequency Langevin ultrasonic transducer

Langevin ultrasonic transducers are widely used in high-power ultrasonics and underwater sound. In ultrasonic cleaning, a matching metal horn rather than a metal cylinder is used as the radiator in order to enhance the radiating surface and improve the acoustic matching between the transducer and the processed medium. To raise the effect of ultrasonic cleaning, the standing wave in the cleaning tank should be eliminated. One method to eliminate the standing wave in the tank is to use the multifrequency ultrasonic transducer. In this paper, the Langevin ultrasonic horn transducer, with two resonance frequencies, is studied. The transducer consists of two groups of piezoelectric ceramic elements: the back metal cylinder, the middle metal cylinder and the front matching metal horn. The vibrational modes of the transducer are analysed, and resonance frequency equations of the transducer in the half-wave and the all-wave vibrational modes are derived. According to the resonance frequency equations, transducers with two resonance frequencies are designed and made. The resonance frequencies, the effective electromechanical coupling coefficients and the equivalent electric impedances of the transducers are measured. It is shown that the measured resonance frequencies are in good agreement with the computed results, and the transducer can be excited to vibrate at two resonance frequencies, which correspond to the half-wave and the all-wave vibrational modes of the transducer.     

变厚度聚焦换能器对声焦域轴向长度影响的研究*

针对不同厚度的病变组织,改变声焦域轴向长度能提高高强度聚焦超声在临床治疗过程中的安全性和有效性。基于多频超声波叠加原理,该文提出了变厚度(多频)聚焦换能器,并设计了两种类型变厚度聚焦换能器。根据瑞利积分法推导了变厚度聚焦换能器声场,计算和分析了变厚度聚焦换能器的声焦域轴向长度,并与等厚度(单频)聚焦换能器声焦域轴向长度进行对比。结果显示,变厚度聚焦换能器中心到边缘的厚度变化趋势与声焦域轴向长度变化相关,中间薄两边厚换能器声焦域轴向长度缩短,中间厚两边薄换能器声焦域轴向长度变长,且实验验证了理论的正确性。研究结果可为变厚度聚焦换能器声场研究和高强度聚焦超声的临床治疗提供参考。     

Improving the air coupling of bulk piezoelectric transducers with wedges of power-law profiles: A numerical study

An air-coupled ultrasonic transducer is created by bonding a bulk piezoelectric element onto the surface of a thick plate with a wedge of power-law profile. The wedge is used to improve the ultrasonic radiation efficiency. The power-law profile provides a smooth, impedance-matching transition for the mechanical energy to be transferred from the thick plate to the air, through the large-amplitude flexural waves observed in the thinnest region of the wedge. The performance of the proposed transducer is examined numerically and compared to that of a design where the piezoelectric element is isolated and where it is affixed to a thin plate of uniform thickness. The numerical analysis is first focused on the free-field radiation of the transducers. Then, time-reversal experiments are simulated by placing the transducers inside a cavity of arbitrary shape with some perfectly reflecting boundaries. In addition to time-reversal mirrors, the proposed concept could be integrated in the design of phased arrays and parametric arrays.     

Brushed-on piezoelectric transducers

Design considerations and operation of vibration-sensitive transducers that are brushed into place are described. These transducers are made of a slurry of crushed piezoelectric ceramic and a liquid binding material that becomes rigid upon exposure to the air. The resulting hard coating is electroded and polarized in place prior to its use as a vibration-detecting transducer. The parameters for optimum particle size, concentration and electrode shape are determined for transducers that are suitable for detecting vibration. Feasibility of the technique is determined by its use in detecting ultrasonic vibration of small rigid members. The technique permits deposition of coats less than 1mm thick with a particle concentration of up to 77 percent of active material. The sensitivities obtained are compared to those of solid piezoelectric materials.     

The transient suppression for piezoelectric ceramic emission transducer

A transient suppression method for piezoelectric ceramic transducer is presented. By adding some special pedestal pulses to the original transmitted signal, the transient effects in the output of the transducer can be just precisely transmission by use of a narrowband transducer. canceled, thereby achieving the broadband The experimental results show that the transient responses of the sinusoid pulses and coded signals are suppressed successfully and the acoustic waveforms radiated into the surrounding water are improved significantly.     

The directivity pattern of an interferometer for measuring thermal acoustic radiation

The directivity patterns of a pair of piezoelectric transducers for measuring the spatial correlation function of sound pressures produced by sources of thermal acoustic radiation in the megahertz frequency range are calculated. Sources in the form of a heated plane or strip are considered. The signal detection by two circular or rectangular piezoelectric transducers and by focusing transducers is studied. It is demonstrated that, for measuring the correlation function, the piezoelectric transducers must partially overlap. To determine the directivity pattern with a strong dependence on the distance between the heated object and the pair of piezoelectric transducers, focusing piezoelectric transducers should be used. The results obtained offer possibilities for a noninvasive measurement of the absorption coefficient of a medium and also for the realization of the previously proposed [20] passive acoustic thermotomograph, which does not use a priori information on the absorption coefficient of the medium.     

Fabrication and comparison of PMN-PT single crystal, PZT and PZT-based 1-3 composite ultrasonic transducers for NDE applications

This paper describes fabrication and comparison of PMN-PT single crystal, PZT, and PZT-based 1-3 composite ultrasonic transducers for NDE applications. As a front matching layer between test material (Austenite stainless steel, SUS316) and piezoelectric materials, alumina ceramics was selected. The appropriate acoustic impedance of the backing materials for each transducer was determined based on the results of KLM model simulation. Prototype ultrasonic transducers with the center frequencies of approximately 2.25 and 5 MHz for contact measurement were fabricated and compared to each other. The PMN-PT single crystal ultrasonic transducer shows considerably improved performance in sensitivity over the PZT and PZT-based 1-3 composite ultrasonic transducers.     

Effect of surface acoustic waves on the catalytic decomposition of ethanol employing a comb transducer for ultrasonic generation

The effect of surface acoustic waves, generated on a silver catalyst using a comb transducer, on the catalytic decomposition of ethanol is examined. The comb transducer employs purely mechanical means for surface acoustic wave (SAW) transduction. Unlike interdigital SAW transducers on piezoelectric substrates, the complicating effects of heat generation due to electromechanical coupling, high electric fields between adjacent electrodes, and acoustoelectric currents are avoided. The ethanol decomposition reactions are carried out at 473 K. The rates of acetaldehyde and ethylene production are retarded when acoustic waves are applied. The rates recover to varying degrees when acoustic excitation ceases.     

Modeling of functionally graded piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers

The application of functionally graded material (FGM) concept to piezoelectric transducers allows the design of composite transducers without interfaces, due to the continuous change of property values. Thus, large improvements can be achieved, as reduction of stress concentration, increasing of bonding strength, and bandwidth. This work proposes to design and to model FGM piezoelectric transducers and to compare their performance with non-FGM ones. Analytical and finite element (FE) modeling of FGM piezoelectric transducers radiating a plane pressure wave in fluid medium are developed and their results are compared. The ANSYS software is used for the FE modeling. The analytical model is based on FGM-equivalent acoustic transmission-line model, which is implemented using MATLAB software. Two cases are considered: (i) the transducer emits a pressure wave in water and it is composed of a graded piezoceramic disk, and backing and matching layers made of homogeneous materials; (ii) the transducer has no backing and matching layer; in this case, no external load is simulated. Time and frequency pressure responses are obtained through a transient analysis. The material properties are graded along thickness direction. Linear and exponential gradation functions are implemented to illustrate the influence of gradation on the transducer pressure response, electrical impedance, and resonance frequencies.