• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.238-246
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• 2017

High frequency ultrasound imaging typically suffers from low sensitivity due to the small aperture of high frequency transducers and shallow imaging depth due to the frequency-dependent attenuation of ultrasound. These limitations should be overcome to obtain high-frequency, high- resolution ultrasound images. One practical solution to the problems is a high-performance signal receiver capable of detecting a very small signal and amplifying the signal with minimal electronic noise addition. This paper reports a recently developed low-noise, wideband ultrasound receiver for high-frequency, high-resolution ultrasound imaging. The developed receiver has an amplification gain of up to 73 dB and a variable amplification gain range of 48 dB over an operating frequency of 80 MHz. Also, it has an amplification gain flatness of ${\pm}1dB$. Due to these high performances, the developed receiver has a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 8.4 dB and a contrast-to-noise ratio of at least 3.7 dB higher than commercial receivers.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2002

The high frequency ultrasonic transducers using polyvinyliden fluoride(PVDF) and polyvinylidene fluoride trifluorethyylene(P(VDF-TrFE)) were developed. The characteristics of fabricated high frequency ultrasonic transducer such as beam diameter, high frequency ultrasonic detection field and amplitude of the first pulse echo signal from the test target in the water were analyzed. The high frequency ultrasonic detection field was affected by the length of coaxial cable between high frequency transducer and ultrasonic pulser/receiver. As the size of the test target increased, the high frequency detection field decreased and the amplitude of a reflection signal increased. The peak amplitude of the first pulse echo signal of P(VDF-TrFE) transducer was higher than that of PVDF transducer. The high frequency ultrasonic detection field of PVDF transducer was wider than that of P(VDF-TrFE) transducer. With C-scan testing, the developed high frequency ultrasonic transducer could detect the 30 to $100{\mu}m$ of hydrogen induced crack of steel specimen by C-scan testing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 1997

Recently high frequency ultrasonic transducers to employ polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF) or polyvinylidene fluoride trifluoroethylene P(VDF-TrFE) have been used to detect small flaws in immersion testing. The detection field depending on the water path between the transducer and a specimen and the path in a tested specimen was measured using a PVDF transducer with nominal frequency 80MHz. Also, C-scan and B-scan were performed for the specimens made of Cr-Ni steel with the artificial flaws, the flat-bottom holes with diameter ranging from $50{\mu}m$ to $560{\mu}m$ at 12mm depth. As the result, the flaws with diameter larger than $280{\mu}m$ were detected, but the flaws with the ratio of diameter to wavelength smaller than about 0.48 were not detected. That the smaller flaws could not be detected was attributed to the attenuation of high frequency components in the steel specimens.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.102-109
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• 2000

This paper describes two different theories used to model the scattering of ultrasound by a volumetric flaw and a crack-like flaw. The elastodynamic Kirchhoff approximation (EKA) and the geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD) are applied respectively to a cylindrical cavity and a semi-infinite crack. These methods are known as high frequency approximations. The 2-D elastodynamic scattering problems of a plane wave incident on these model defects are considered and the scattered fields are expressed in terms of the reflection and diffraction coefficients. The ratio of the scattered far field amplitude to the incident wave amplitude is computed as a function of the angular location and compared with the boundary element solutions.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.300-308
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• 2014

Photoacoustic imaging is a useful tool for the diagnosis of atherosclerosis because it is capable of providing anatomical and pathological information at the same time. A photoacoustic signal detector is a pivotal element to achieve high spatial resolution, so that it should have broadband spectrum with a high center frequency. Since a photoacoustic imaging probe is directly inserted into blood vessel to diagnose atherosclerosis, the total size of the photoacoustic signal detector should be less than 1 mm. The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that PVDF can be used as an active material for the photoacoustic signal detector with a high frequency and broadband characteristic. The photoacoustic signal detector developed in this study was a single element ultrasound transducer with an aperture of $0.5{\times}0.5mm$ and the total size of 1 mm. In the design stage, the natural focal depth was adjusted for an effective focal area to cover the region of interest, i.e., 1~5 mm in depth. This was because geometrical focusing could not be used due to the small aperture. Through a pulse-echo test, it was ascertained that the developed photoacoustic signal detector has the -6 dB bandwidth ranging between 40.1 and 112.8 MHz and the center frequency of 76.83 MHz.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.112-119
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• 2015

Photoacoustic microscopy is capable of providing high-resolution molecular images, and its spatial resolution is typically determined by ultrasonic transducers used to receive the photoacoustic signals. Therefore, ultrasonic transducers for photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) should have a high operating frequency, broad bandwidth, and high signal-reception efficiency. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is a suitable material. To take full advantage of this material, the selection of the backing material is crucial, as it influences the center frequency and bandwidth of the transducer. Therefore, we experimentally determined the most suitable backing material among EPO-TEK 301, E-Solder 3022, and RTV. For this, three PVDF high-frequency single-element transducers were fabricated with each backing material. The center frequency and -6 dB bandwidth of each transducer were ascertained by a pulse-echo test. The spatial resolution of each transducer was examined using wire-target images. The experimental results indicated that EPO-TEK 301 is the most suitable backing material for a PAM transducer. This material provides the highest signal magnitude and a reasonable bandwidth because a large portion of the energy propagates toward the front medium, and the PVDF resonates in the half-wave mode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2012.04a
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• pp.231-231
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• 2012

엔진의 상태진단을 위하여 사용되는 진동 및 초음파 신호는 진동 가속도계와 초음파변환기를 대상 엔진의 취약 부위에 부착하여 측정한다. 이들 센서는 연소와 관련된 고주파진동을 측정하는 능력이 있어서 사용되고 있다. 진동가속도계와 초음파변환기의 선정 및 설치는 진동해석에서 가장 중요한 결정 요소이다. 가속도계의 설치도 주파수응답에 영향을 준다. 초음파변환기는 전자기계적 변환기로서, 진동면에서 발생하여 공기 중으로 전파되는 음파를 감지한다. 초음파변환기는 사용할 수 있는 주파수대역이 아주 협소한 대신 가속도계보다 명확한 신호를 산출한다. 초음파변환기는 사용할 수 있는 아주 협소한 주파수역을 갖는 비용으로 가속도계보다 명확한 신호를 얻을 수 있다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 원전 비상디젤발전기 엔진 상태진단을 위한 초음파 및 진동센서의 설치방법에 따른 가속도계 및 초음파 센서의 응답 특성을 분석하고 주파수응답에 대한 영향에 따라 여러 가지 설치방법의 검토를 통하여 최적방법론을 도출한 결과를 소개하고자 한다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.518-524
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• 2004

The feasibility of Y(z) curve method of scanning acoustic microscope using high frequency transducer was experimentally studied for assessment of the thermal degradation in Co-based superalloy. Thermal degradation was performed to simulate the microstructural changes in Co-based superalloy arising from long term exposure at high temperature. Longitudinal wave velocity measured by pulse echo method using 10MHz transducer and leaky surface acoustic wave (LSAW) velocity measured by V(z) curve method using 200MHE transducer were measured to investigate the effect on thermal degradation. Ultrasonic velocity decreased as the aging time increased in both ultrasonic waves. Moreover, the low frequency longitudinal wave velocity decreased a little. Otherwise, the high frequency LSAW velocity drastically decreased up to a maximum of 4.7% at the aging time of 4,000hours. A good correlation was found between LSAW and Vickers hardness. Consequently, V(z) curve method of SAM using high frequency transducer could be a potential tool for assessing thermal degradation.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.33-40
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• 1984

In the conventional pulsed doppler system, gated CW is used to excite a ultrasonic transducer so that a group of linear RF amplifiers are required to excite a ultrasonic array transducer in the scanning pulsed doppler system. A pulsed doppler system without linear high voltage RF amplifiers, which excites the transducer impulsively, is studied theoretically and experimentally. In this paper, an experimental 8-channel pulsed doppler system is implemented, which uses quadrature defection to detect the direction of motion and can compensate the attenuation effect. The designed pulsed doppler system shows the possibility of real time multichannel doppler flow meter.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.143-153
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• 2021

The growth inhibition effects of M. aeruginosa were verified using large volume (7.2 L) of algae samples and ultrasonication (high frequency of 1.6 MHz vs. low frequency of 23 kHz) in lab-scale experiment. The chlorophyll-a (chl-a) and cell number decreased gradually after 6 hr sonication with high frequency of 1.6 MHz whereas both decreased sharply after 6 hr sonication with low frequency of 23 kHz. Additionally, the first order degradation coefficient (k) values after sonication were greater than those during sonication. These results indicate that relatively low sonication energy per volume may affect the cell membrane and internal organs of M. aeruginosa in a slow and retarded manner and resulted in gradual decrease of cell numbers of M. aeruginosa. Based on the comparison of chl-a and cell number of M. aeruginosa after sonication, low frequency of 23 kHz is superior for growth inhibition of M. aeruginosa, since low frequency of 23 kHz easily penetrates the cell membrane and ruptures the internal organs including gas vesicles. As is evident in SEM and TEM images, ruptured cell membranes were clearly observed for low frequency of 23 kHz. Finally, the microcystin-LR in water is not detected and considered to be harmless in aquaculture systems.