Advantages of polymer transducers in high frequency inspections

Book · Fri Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:64663

Samari, S; Stanton, M ^[1]

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1. Panametrics, Waltham, MA (United States)

Since the discovery of piezoelectricity in PVDF in 1969 the polymer transducers have now emerged as a significant tool in many ultrasonic inspections that otherwise would have been very difficult or impossible for conventional ceramic transducers. The major advantage, of Polymer transducers is in their inherent broadband characteristics in immersion applications which leads to their superior resolution and improved signal to noise ration over conventional ceramic transducers. This paper will show empirical results of high frequency polymer transducer in inspection of different materials including engineering materials such as ceramics. Other advantages of the polymer transducers are their low acoustic impedance as well as the compliance of the plastic material during construction. The compliance of the plastic PVDF film allows the manufacture of the high frequency polymer transducers without the use of permanent delays which can interfere with ultrasonic measurements. This paper will also give experimental results that will show how polymer transducers are instrument dependent, and how an operator can achieve optimum results by using an impedance matching network between the instrument and the polymer transducer.

• OSTI ID: 64663
• Report Number(s): CONF-931193--; ISBN 0-931403-23-5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
DESIGN
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
TRANSDUCERS
ULTRASONIC TESTING