Information contained in the radiating ultrasound during ultrasonic welding

During ultrasonic welding, unnecessary ultrasound together with audible sound is radiated into the air. Audible sound is noisy and uncomfortable, and ultrasound may have bed effects on adjacent equipment. However, it is considered that these sounds potentially contain useful information such as welding state. This article reports the relationship between radiated ultrasound and the change of the welding state during ultrasonic welding. It is known that the welding state can be presumed from the change of the mechanical load impedance, which can be calculated from resonant frequency, motional voltage and the driving current of the vibrating system for the welder when a constant-velocity motional-feedback power oscillator is used. In this study, radiated ultrasound picked up with a microphone and an amplifier is recorded and analyzed with a personal computer. Analyzed results are compared with the change of the mechanical load impedance that is also calculated from the recorded data of the resonant frequency, motional voltage and the driving current of the vibrating system for the welding. Experiments were made on the ultrasonic welding of plastic rods. The relationship between the parameters of radiated ultrasound and the electrical parameters of the vibrating system were compared. The peak amplitude of the radiated ultrasound and the mechanical impedance versus time were very similar. It is shown in this study that radiated ultrasound contains lots of useful information.     

Open spaces in the subsurface region of polyethylene probed by monoenergetic positron beams

Open spaces in the subsurface region (<10 μm) of very low density polyethylene were probed by a monoenergetic positron beam. From measurements of Doppler broadening spectra measurements of the annihilation radiation and the lifetime spectra of positrons as a function of incident positron energy, the size of the open spaces in the region of 0–3 μm was found to be larger than that in the deeper region. This was attributed to the cooperative motion of large segments of molecules which is activated near the surface. After the freezing in of such motions (below 230 K), although the lineshape parameter S in the bulk was almost constant, S in the region of 0–3 μm decreased with decreasing temperature. This discrepancy was associated with the presence of the open spaces with an excess content and the resultant contraction of amorphous structure near the surface. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. B Polym. Phys. 36: 2597–2605, 1998     

Study for imaging of inside bone using FM-chirp pulse compression system

We measured the attenuation of ultrasound in animal bone in vitro, and determined successfully the correct dynamic range for the detection of echo signals from inside the bone. It was possible to display a B-mode image of a 6-mm thick porcine rib bone using a high frequency (5 MHz) transducer. However, it was difficult to obtain the image of a large bone (20-mm thick femur). This paper describes a possibility of the improvement for the detection of echoes from inside the bone using the FM-chirp pulse. An ultrasonic wave generator that generates the FM-chirp pulse for a frequency range of 100 KHz to 5 MHz was fabricated. And the pulse was transmitted from a transducer and received by a hydrophone in the water. The received waveform and the frequency spectrum were displayed on an oscilloscope. We measured the amplitude spectrum of the received waves before and after inserting a sample bone between the transducer and the hydrophone. In the experiment, three types of focused transducers (0.5, 1 and 2.25 MHz) and three kinds of sample bones (spine, femur and rib of a pig) were used. From the results of the measurement, we could find the useful information for imaging of inside the bone.     

Water content and its effect on ultrasound propagation in concrete--the possibility of NDE

It is known that water content or moisture affects the strength of concrete. The purpose of this study is to examine the possibility of the NDE of concrete from a knowledge of the relationship between water content and ultrasonic propagation in concrete. The results of measurements made on the ultrasound velocity and the frequency component on ultrasonic propagation as a function of the water content in concrete are reported. Test pieces of concrete made from common materials were made for the fundamental studies. The test piece dimensions were 10 cm in diameter and 20 cm in length. Test pieces were immersed in water for about 50 days to saturate them. To measure the effect of different water contents, test pieces were put in a drying chamber to change the amount of water between measurements. This procedure was repeated until the concrete was completely dried and the weight no longer changed. Water contents were defined as weight percentage to full dried state. Thus water content could be changed from 8% to 0%. Using the pulse transmission method, ultrasonic propagation in the frequency range 20 to 100 kHz was measured as a function of water content. The sound velocity varied gradually from 3000 m/s to 4500 m/s according to the water content. The frequency of maximum transmission also depended on the water content in this frequency range. It is considered that the ultrasonic NDE of concrete strength is feasible.     

Orthopositronium annihilation and emission in mesostructured thin silica and silicalite-1 films

Mesoporous silica films and MFI-type pure silica zeolite films were investigated using slow positrons. Detection of the 3γ annihilation fraction was used as a quick test to estimate the emission of orthopositronium (o-Ps) into vacuum. Positronium time-of-flight (TOF) spectroscopy, combined with Monte-Carlo simulation of the detection system was used to determine the energy of o-Ps emitted from the films. Evidence for an efficient o-Ps emission was found in both the mesoporous and silicalite-1. A 3γ fraction in the range of 31-36 % was found in the films with the highest o-Ps yield in each type of porous material, indicating that 40-50 % of the implanted positrons form positronium in the pore systems with very different pore sizes. Time-of-flight measurements showed that the energy of the orthopositronium emitted into vacuum is below 100 meV in the film with 2-3 nm pores at 3 keV positron energy, indicating an efficient slowing down but no complete thermalization in the porous films of 300-400 nm thickness.     

Improved detection of echo signals from inside bone

The purpose of the study was to obtain useful information for diagnosing internal abnormalities of bones by ultrasound. We fabricated a transmitting and receiving system mainly targeting the bone and an image processing system using a computer, and studied the attenuation of ultrasound in animal bone (in vitro). The average value was about 37 dB. The examination was able to determine successfully the proper dynamic range for detection, and a B-mode image of the inside of the bone could be displayed. Here we describe a new transmitting and receiving system developed to improve the detection of echo signals from inside bones. In this method, two kinds of high sensitivity transducer were made as follows: (1) 5 HMz frequency, 6.5 mm diameter; (2) 10 HMz frequency, 13 mm diameter. By using this method, detectability of the echo signals can be increased more than with the former system. The results showed that the structure of the bones could be clearly seen in the B-mode images.     

Detection of adrenaline on poly(3-aminobenzylamine) ultrathin film by electrochemical-surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy

In this Article, we present a novel method to detect adrenaline on poly(3-aminobenzylamine) (PABA) ultrathin films by electrochemical-surface plasmon resonance (EC-SPR) spectroscopy. We prepared a PABA film, which specifically reacts with adrenaline, on a gold electrode by electropolymerization of 3-aminobenzylamine. The specific reaction of benzylamine within the PABA structure with adrenaline was studied by XPS, UV-vis spectroscopy, and EC-SPR techniques. Adrenaline was detected in real time by EC-SPR spectroscopy, which provides simultaneous monitoring of both optical SPR reflectivity and electrochemical current responses upon injecting adrenaline into the PABA thin film. The number of changes in both current and SPR reflectivity on the injection of adrenaline exhibited the linear relation to the concentration, and the detection limit was 100 pM. The responses were distinctive to those for uric acid and ascorbic acid, which are major interferences of adrenaline.     

High‐rate crystallization of polycarbonate in spincast thin film

Surface morphology of bisphenol‐A polycarbonate (BAPC) thin films, with thickness ranging from 30 to 1000 nm on silicon substrates was studied by atomic force microscopy. The films were prepared by spincasting from 1,2‐dichloroethane solutions of 0.25–5.0 wt % BAPC. Even though longer annealing than 250 h was necessary for complete crystallization for bulk BAPC, high crystallinity was observed for 30 nm thick film after annealing at 200 °C for 48 h in vacuum. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy measurements showed that the free volume hole size in 30 nm thick film was larger than that of bulk at 200 °C. Comparison of the BAPC concentration in the precursor solution with the overlap concentration suggests that the high crystallinity of the 30 nm BAPC film is due to less entangled chains caused by rapid removal of the solvent from the dilute solution. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2010     

Mechanism and control of crack generation in glass substrates during crystallization of a-Si Films by flash lamp annealing

We investigate the impact of the materials of glass substrates on crack formation during flash lamp annealing (FLA) of 4.5 μm-thick precursor amorphous silicon (a-Si) films for the formation of polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) films. The use of soda lime glass substrates, with the largest thermal expansion coefficient (α) and the lowest glass transition temperature (T_g) in glass materials attempted in this study, results in the serious formation of cracks on and inside the glass substrates. Cracks are also seen on the surface of quartz glass substrates, which have much smaller α and higher T_g, after FLA. Furthermore, flash-lamp-crystallized (FLC) poly-Si films have linearly-connected low-crystallinity regions only when quartz glass substrates are used. These facts indicate that the expansion of Si films induces cracks in quartz glass substrates, while the expansion of the upper part of glass is the cause of the crack formation in glass substrates with large α. The generation of cracks is most significantly suppressed when we use alkali-free glass substrates, with a moderate α and a relatively high T_g, which will contribute to the realization of high-quality poly-Si films and high-performance solar cells.     

Characterization of porous SiC by variable-energy positron beams

3C–SiC grown on n-type Si wafers by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was anodized in a HF–ethanol solution. Positron annihilation Doppler broadening and lifetime measurements were carried out to characterize a porous structure formed in the SiC layer. In contrast to the case of porous Si, for which long-lived components with lifetimes 5–30 ns have been reported (Suzuki et al., 1994), a lifetime longer than 1 ns was not observed for the porous SiC. We discuss chemical effect in the pore surface based on the Doppler broadening spectrum in the high momentum region.