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Fabrication, modelling and use of porous ceramics for ultrasonic transducer applications

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Abstract

Porous ceramics are of interest for ultrasonic transducer applications. Porosity allows to decrease acoustical impedance, thus improving transfer of acoustical energy to water or biological tissues. For underwater applications, the dhgh figure of merit can also be improved as compared to dense materials. In the case of high frequency transducers, namely for high resolution medical imaging, thick film technology can be used. The active films are generally porous and this porosity must be controlled. An unpoled porous PZT substrate is also shown to be an interesting solution since it can be used in a screen-printing process and as a backing for the transducer. This paper describes the fabrication process to obtain such materials, presents microstructure analysis as well as functional properties of materials. Modelling is also performed and results are compared to measurements. Finally, transducer issues are addressed through modelling and design of several configurations. The key parameters are identified and their effect on transducer performance is discussed. A comparison with dense materials is performed and results are discussed to highlight in which cases porous piezoceramics can improve transducer performance, and improvements are quantified.

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Acknowledgement

This work was performed in the frame of the Piramid FP5 European project (contract no. G5RD-CT-2001-456) and MIND FP6 Network of Excellence (contract no. 515757-2). The authors thank C. Galassi for discussion and bibliography.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Ultrasons Signaux Instrumentation, Francois-Rabelais University, LUSSI, 10 boulevard Tonnellé, BP 3223, Tours cedex 1, 37032, France

    F. Levassort & M. Lethiecq

  2. Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia

    J. Holc & M. Kosec

  3. Ferroperm Piezoceramics A/S, Hejreskovvej 18A, Kvistgaard, 3490, Denmark

    E. Ringgaard & T. Bove

Authors
  1. F. Levassort
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  2. J. Holc
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  3. E. Ringgaard
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  4. T. Bove
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  5. M. Kosec
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  6. M. Lethiecq
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Correspondence to F. Levassort.

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Levassort, F., Holc, J., Ringgaard, E. et al. Fabrication, modelling and use of porous ceramics for ultrasonic transducer applications. J Electroceram 19, 127–139 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10832-007-9117-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10832-007-9117-3

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