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. 2022 May 17;13(5):781.
doi: 10.3390/mi13050781.

Fabrication and Modeling of Matching System for Air-Coupled Transducer

Jinjie Zhou  1 , Jiaqi Bai  1 , Yao Liu  1
Affiliations

Fabrication and Modeling of Matching System for Air-Coupled Transducer

Jinjie Zhou et al. Micromachines (Basel). .

Abstract

The tremendous acoustic impedance difference between the piezoelectric composite and air prevents the ultrasonic transition, resulting in low amplitude for the received signal for the composite defect detection using an air-coupled transducer. The matching system, which includes the matching layers and bonding layers attached to the piezoelectric composite, can reduce the acoustic impedance difference and benefit the acoustic transition. In this paper, the fabrication method and modeling for the matching layers are proposed to optimize the transducer performance. The effects of bonding layer material on the transducer performance are also discussed. Experiments were conducted for modeling validation. The proposed model can predict the matching layer acoustic properties with an error of less than 11%. The bonding layer using the same material as the first matching layer can help to increase the sensitivity by about 33% compared to the traditional epoxy bonding. The optimized air-coupled ultrasonic transducer, based on the results of this study, has a 1283 mV amplitude in the air, which is 56% higher than commercially available transducers, and can identify the defects in two typical non-metallic composite materials easily.

Keywords: acoustic impedance; air-coupled acoustic transducer; bonding layer; matching layer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The steps to fabricate the matching layer.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Structure of air-coupled transducer.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Air-coupled ultrasonic transducer. (a) 1-3 piezoelectric composite with double matching layer and (b) self-developed transducer.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Testing platform.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Microstructure of the epoxy/hollow glass microsphere composites. (a) BR20, (b) BR40, and (c) BR60 microsphere. (The value on the figure is the weight ratio Rc, the red arrows are the air bubble).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Time–domain filtered and enveloped signal of (a) BR20-15-15, (b) BR20-19-15, (c) BR20-15-15, and (d) transducer from Japan Probe Co., LTD.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Time–domain filtered and enveloped signal. (a) Without bonding layer, (b) with the hollow glass beads/epoxy resin system.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Time–domain filtered and enveloped signal of (a) PVC foam, (b) CFRP plates with or without defects.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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