Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of OPCM Array Transducer

Abstract

Orthotropic piezoelectric compose material (OPCM) is used as functional material for a new OPCM array transducer which can be applied in a wide range of fields such as natural gas, power industry, aero-space, and other non-destructive evaluation fields. The development of ultrasonic array transducer is still in the initial stages and it can be strongly enhanced by using design tools. The transducer is designed by flat construction and composed of backing layer, OPCM array element and protective layer. A procedure and a specific constitutive model are presented in this work together with simulation of OPCM element transducer of general array parameters and matching layer thickness. Models are required for the design and fabrication of OPCM array transducer. Also the properties of frequency, impedance, directivity and relative sensitivity distribution are measured from calibration experiment. The OPCM array transducer is excited by voltage and the corresponding sensitivity analysis is presented. To frequency and impedance, the experimental results show that the bandwidth is increased and the effects of side and grating lobe are reduced by using the matching layer. The OPCM array transducer has orthotropic performance. This special performance can be used to actuate and sense the stress wave in special direction.