Progress in stacked piezocomposite ultrasonic transducers for low frequency applications

A stacked ultrasonic transducer comprises multiple individual layers connected mechanically in series and electrically in parallel to reduce the fundamental thickness mode resonance to a frequency corresponding to the transit time of the complete stack and the electrical impedance to a value which corresponds to that of the layers of the stack in parallel. In turn, this allows lower frequency resonant operation than would be possible with a single layer, and facilitates electrical impedance matching to typical transmission circuitry. On transmission, an ideal stack of uniform layers will have an output amplitude larger than that of the equivalent single layer by a factor equal to the . However, using conventional signal amplification circuitry on reception, the output voltage amplitude will be smaller than that of the equivalent single layer by a similar factor. In the past, stacks have commonly been assembled from layers of conventional piezoceramic material but more recently there have been reports of stacks of 1–3 piezocomposites and it is this type that is considered here. The work described in this paper is motivated by the need to operate at frequencies lower than are possible using conventional piezocomposite fabrication technology. Progress in comparison of experimental and simulated results is outlined and the highlights of a theoretical design study are presented. These show that although the general behaviour of a stacked structure is easily predicted, a rigorous theoretical analysis is essential to understand the detail of even a limited range of possible designs.     

Finite hereditary near-field groups

A group (G,·) is said to be a near-field group ifG is the multiplicative group of a near-field. A near-field groupG is called hereditary if every subgroup ofG is a near-field group. This paper presents a complete characterization of finite hereditary near-field groups.     

Thiocyanate-assisted demetallation of α,β,γ,δ-tetra(p-sulfophenyl)porphinatoindium(III) in aqueous media

The rate law for the demetallation of the title indium(III)-porphin complex in aqueous acidic thiocyanate media at 3.00M ionic strength was found to be of the form where [H₄P^2?] is the concentration of the diacid product formed, [InP]_t is the total concentration of all forms of indium(III)-porphin complex present, and a and b are constants. The constant a is a pseudo-third-order rate constant with the value (0.057 ± 0.005)M^?2 s^?1 and b has the value 0.704M^?2 at 50.5°C. If the mechanism for demetallation involves ringpuckering with the attachment of two H⁺ ions, then 1/b can be identified with the product K₁K₂ for the stepwise dissociation of two protons from two ring pyrrolic nitrogen atoms of H₂InP^?. In the sulfonated tetraphenylporphin used for these studies the ring pyrrolic nitrogen atoms seem to be the most probable sites for protonation. If this identification is correct, the value of 1.42 ± 0.13 found for the product K₁K₂ shows the enormous effect that the presence of the In³⁺ center has on the ionization constants of these two protons. That the kinetic studies show saturation effects with respect to proton addition to InP^3? may result from the fact that In³⁺ sits about 0.6 Å above the porphin ring.     

1,3,5-Trisubstituted hexahydrotriazines as mannich reagents. III. Preparation and cleavage of 3,4-dihydro-6-hydroxy-3-substituted-2H-1,3-benzoxazine hydrochlorides

3,4-Dihydro-6-hydroxy-3-substituted-2H-1,3-benzoxazine hydrochlorides have been prepared by the reaction of hydroquinones with novel aminomethylating reagents prepared from 1,3,5-trisubstituted hexahydrotriazines. With these monooxazine hydrochlorides is formed an equal molar amount of an amine hydrochloride. Purification leads to low yields. This difficulty has been circumvented by the use of bis(alkoxymethyl)amines in the presence of anhydrous hydrogen chlorides. The monooxazines have been hydrolyzed to yield ortho-secondary aminomethylhydro-quinone derivatives.     

A study of hand vibration on chipping and grinding operators,part II: Four-degree-of-freedom lumped parameter model of the vibration response of the human hand

The results of the development of a four-degree-of-freedom, lumped parameter model of the vibration response characteristics of the human hand are presented. For this study dynamic compliance measurements were made on 75 foundry workers. Curve fitting techniques were then employed to identify the values of the model parameters that yielded empirically generated dynamic compliance curves that correlated well with the measured dynamic compliance values. The agreement was good between 20 Hz and 1000 Hz in the X- and Y-directions. The agreement was good between 20 Hz and 1000 Hz in the Z-direction.     

Methods for the isolation and characterization of constituents of natural products XIX. Use of a Celite-sodium borohydride column for reduction of carbonyl compounds at the micro level

A Celite-sodium borohyride column has been used to reduce micromole amounts of a variety of simple carbonyl compounds to the corresponding alcohol in fair to excellent yields. The procedure is relatively rapid and easy involving only the application of a hexane solution of the carbonyl compound to the column and collection of the effluent containing the alcohol. A column constructed in a melting point capillary suitable for the reduction of microgram amounts of carbonyls is also described.     

Luminescent polymers with discrete emitter units

Optical absorption and photo-luminescence measurements were performed on a series of semiconducting polymers, based upon phenylene linkages, that have discrete emitter units. In these polymers, broken conjugation has been achieved in two ways: by introducing metalinkages between various numbers of para-connected aromatic groups or by severe steric distortion of a fully conjugated main chain. In either case, electronic states are localized on relatively small units, resulting in a large (π, π^*) band gap. The band gap decreases with increasing emitter unit conjugation, as expected. Blue light emission was observed from these materials, with the peak emission wavelength red shifted (by greater than 1 eV on average) from the peak absorption. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.