• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.444-449
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• 1998

A modal transducer in two-dimensional structure can be implemented by varying the distributed transducer's gain spatially. In this paper, a method based on finite element method is developed for optimizing spatial gain distribution of PVDF transducer to create the modal transducer for specific modes. Using this concept, one can design the modal transducer in two-dimensional structure having arbitrary geometry and boundary conditions. As a practical means for implementing this continuous gain distribution without repoling die PVDF film, the gain distribution is approximated by optimizing gain-weights of interface circuit. The whole spatial area of the PVDF film is divided into several electrode segments and the signals from each segment are properly weighted and summed by interface circuit. This corresponds to the approximation of a continuous function using discrete values. The electrode partition is optimized using the genetic algorithm. Gain-weights are optimized using the simplex search method. A modal sensor for first to fourth modes of aluminum plate is designed using PVDF film with gain-weighted interface circuit. Various lamination angles of PVDF film are taken into consideration to utilize the anisotropy of the PVDF film. Performance of the optimized' PVDF sensor is demonstrated by numerical simulations..

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.33-37
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• 2000

The authors fabricated ultrasonic transducer with PVDF[poly(vinylidene fluoride)] piezoelectric polymer film. When impulse waves were applied to the PVDF ultrasonic transducer, the dependence of the response properties on the backing material with copper was investigated through not only theoretical calculations using Mason's equivalent circuit but also experimental measurements. The experimental pulse response properties agree with those of the theoretical calculations and the pulses were shorter than those for a PZT transducer. If such short-pulse properties are used in an medical ultrasonic image diagnosis apparatus, the resolution of the apparatus will be improved. When the insertion loss was calculated theoretically to the PVDF ultrasonic transducer, the frequency characteristics of its showed wideband frequency.

• 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 KSNVE
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.632-642
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• 1998

A method based on finite element discretization is developed for optimizing the polarization profile of PVDF film to create the modal transducer for specific modes. Using this concept, one can design the modal transducer in two-dimensional structure having arbitrary geometry and boundary conditions. As a practical means for implementing this polarization profile without repoling the PVDF film the polarization profile is approximated by optimizing electrode patterns, lamination angles, and poling directions of the multi-layered PVDF transducer. This corresponds to the approximation of a continuous function using discrete values. The electrode pattern of each PVDF layer is optimized by deciding the electrode of each finite element to be used or not. Genetic algorithm, suitable for discrete problems, is used as an optimization scheme. For the optimization of each layers lamination angle, the continuous lamination angle is encoded into discrete value using binary 5 bit string. For the experimental demonstration, a modal sensor for first and second modes of cantilevered composite plate is designed using two layers of PVDF films. The actuator is designed based on the criterion of minimizing the system energy in the control modes under a given initial condition. Experimental results show that the signals from residual modes are successfully reduced using the optimized multi-layered PVDF sensor. Using discrete LQG control law, the modal peaks of first and second modes are reduced in the amount of 12 dB and 4 dB, resepctively.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.519-524
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• 2009

This work presents a simple technique to determine the Poisson's ratio of homogeneous solid material using a pair of low cost PVDF ultrasonic transducers. It is based on transducer's property of generating longitudinal and transversal waves depending on the excitation frequency. Mechanical tests were conducted to validate the proposed method, resulting in a good agreement between ultrasonic and mechanical techniques.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.291-304
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• 2008

Piezoelectric materials have been widely used in ultrasonic nondestructive testing (NDT). PZT ceramics can be used to receive and generate surface acoustic waves. It is a common application to attach PZT transducers to the surface of structures for detecting cracks in nondestructive testing. However, not until recently have piezoelectric polymers attracted more and more attention to be the material for interdigitated (IDT) surface and guided-wave transducers. In this paper, an interdigitated gold-on-polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) transducer for actuating and sensing Lamb waves has been introduced. A specific etching technology is employed for making the surface electrodes into a certain finger pattern, the spacings of which yield different single mode responses of Lamb waves. Experiments have been performed on steel and carbon fiber composite plates. Results from PVDF IDT sensors have been compared with those from PZT transducers for verification.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.202-207
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• 2003

For medical ultrasonic transducer, phase-weighting method has been used for controlling focal length with electric circuit at each vibrating element. However, the electric circuit is complex as the number of vibrating elements is increased. In this paper, we fabricated line-focus transducer with a bimorph-type piezoelectric actuator. The polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric type polymer film is used for transmitting and receiving of ultrasonic signal. Using this transducer, focal length of the transducer can be controlled mechanically by changing voltage of the actuator. It is confirmed that focal length of the transducer can be controlled in range of 1095 to radius of curvature.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.7-13
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• 1992

In this study, we examine the characteristics of beam and the effect of these characteristics on the flaw detection by using different type of two transducers, which are PZT and PVDF film transducer. Consequently, the detection of infinitesimal flaw is more possible than PZT, since it has beam width at focus of $60%{\sim}65%$ in contrast with PZT's. Moreover we can know PVDF transducer has superiority in detecting ability for sub-surface flaw detection in view of its acoustic impedance is near to water's and its focusing range is narrower than PZT's as $65{\sim}85%$ because it has spherical surface.

• 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.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.62-67
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• 2001

Velocities of leaky surface acoustic waves (LSAW/sub s/) were measured by using a line-focus polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) transducer and compared with theoretically calculated ones. Isotropic materials of Cu, Al, fused quartz, and anisotropic one of Z-cut α-quartz crystal were used as specimens. The velocities were obtained by the separation time between wave components reflected directly from the surface of specimen and LSAW components according to the defocusing distance. The measured velocities well agree with the theoretical results within 1％ error, and it was shown that the leaky pseudo-surface acoustic wave (LPSAW) as well as the LSAW propagates with the typical 6-fold anisotropy on the (0,0,1) surface of α-quartz.