Piezocomposite technology Imasonic 1-3 piezocomposite Imasonic has developed a specialised know how and several technological processes based on the concept of piezoelectric composites with a ceramic polymer structure known as the 1-3 piezo-composite structure.
Piezocomposite materials are made of thin rods of ceramics embedded into a polymer material. Their properties depend on the ceramic and polymer properties and on the microstructure itself. Electroacoustic properties Piezocomposite materials have a high coupling coefficient that confers to the transducers a high sensitivity and signal to noise ratio (+10dB to +30dB compared to conventional technology). The intrinsic damping of these material allows a high bandwidth, while keeping a good sensitivity. The lower and adjustable acoustic impedance allows a higher energy transfer in water, and a lower reverberation level on the front face for immersion applications. Mechanical properties The 1-3 structure of the composite avoids radial vibration modes. This performance directly benefits to the beam pattern and pulse shape. Moreover it allows the manufacturing of phased array transducers with low cross coupling between neighbour elements. Piezocomposite materials can be mechanically focused. This property allows the manufacturing of cylindrical, spherical or curved transducers without using acoustic lens. Lens attenuation is avoided and allows a more predictable beam pattern. Piezocomposite materials also have a higher mechanical resistance, that confers to the transducers a higher resistance to mechanical shocks, vibrations, temperature constraints and pressure constraints. Papers "Piezocomposite technology : An innovative approach to the improvement of
N.D.T. performance using ultrasounds", J. Poguet, P. Dumas, G. Fleury –
IMASONIC S.A. ,8th European Conference on Non Destructive Testing, June 2002,
Barcelona, Spain
"Improvements of Ultrasonic Inspections through the use of Piezo Composite
Transducers", G.Fleury - IMASONIC S.A., C.Gondard - CEA, 6th European Conference
on Non Destructive Testing, October 1994, Nice France
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Most
of Imasonic transducers are based on this technology.
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