Design considerations for a PVDF acoustic transducer

Abstract

Much work has been published on the design of transducers using piezoelectric polymers, but a great of this work is theoretical modeling and derivations, and the proposed design methods can't be available easily. The purpose of the paper is review and applies several important considerations for the design of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) acoustic emission transducer: transducer construction, active element selection, backing material design, matching layer design, and preamplifier design. Besides reviewing these design considerations, this paper also present that a PVDF acoustic emission transducer has been fabricated. To achieve the transducer's characteristic parameter, the transducer has been calibrated using a precise impedance analyzer; by which the admittance conductance parameters of the acoustic transducer have been obtained. Pencil lead break tests also have been conducted on the transducer, and the test results certified that the transducer can detect acoustic emission events.