TY - JOUR A1 - Bovtun, Viktor Petrovic A1 - Döring, Joachim A1 - Bartusch, Jürgen A1 - Gaal, Mate A1 - Erhard, Anton A1 - Kreutzbruck, Marc A1 - Yakymenko, Y. T1 - Enhanced electromechanical response of ferroelectret ultrasonic transducers under high voltage excitation N2 - Polypropylene based ferroelectret films exhibit a strong electromechanical activity and provide a promising solution for the air coupled ultrasonic (ACUS) transducers. Ultrasonic transmission between two air coupled ferroelectret transducers in dependence on the amplitude and polarity of the high voltage exciting pulse revealed a strongly non-linear electromechanical response of the ferroelectret transmitter which provides an increase in the transmitter efficiency. The authors present a simple model describing both promotion and competition of the piezoelectric and electrostriction contributions, as well as increase in the transducer constant under high voltage excitation. Enlargement of the inverse transducer constant of the polypropylene ferroelectret film by a factor of 4 was demonstrated. The non-linear properties of the polypropylene ferroelectrets result in a strong increase in their ACUS figure of merit under the high voltage excitation, which exceeds the results of their technological optimisation. Consequently, enhancement of the ACUS system transmission by 12 dB and signal to noise ratio by 32 dB was achieved. KW - Air coupled ultrasonics KW - Non-contact transducers KW - Ferroelectrets KW - Piezoelectric effect KW - Electrostriction KW - Cellular polypropylene KW - Ultrasonic transducer PY - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1179/1743676112Y.0000000021 SN - 1743-6753 SN - 1743-6761 VL - 112 IS - 2 SP - 97 EP - 102 PB - Maney CY - London AN - OPUS4-27880 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bovtun, V. A1 - Döring, Joachim A1 - Bartusch, Jürgen A1 - Beck, Uwe A1 - Erhard, Anton A1 - Yakymenko, Y. T1 - Air-coupled ultrasonic transducers based on cellular polypropylene ferroelectret films N2 - Analysis of the dielectric and electromechanical properties of the cellular polypropylene ferroelectret films (EMFIT) evidences their high potential for the application in the air-coupled ultrasonic transducers. Simple prototype transducers, based on the EMFIT films, were developed and their high sensitivity was proved in the air-coupled ultrasonic experiment. Amplitude and delay time scanned images of the polyethylene step wedge with holes, obtained in both pulse-echo and transmission modes, demonstrate that non-contact ultrasonic imaging with EMFIT transducers is possible. KW - Air-coupled ultrasonics KW - Non-contact transducers KW - Ferroelectrets KW - Electromechanical properties PY - 2007 SN - 0015-0193 SN - 1563-5112 VL - 353 IS - 1 SP - 186 EP - 192 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-14977 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bovtun, Viktor Petrovic A1 - Döring, Joachim A1 - Bartusch, Jürgen A1 - Beck, Uwe A1 - Erhard, Anton A1 - Yakymenko, Y. T1 - Ferroelectret non-contact ultrasonic transducers N2 - Dielectric and electromechanical properties of the cellular polypropylene ferroelectret films (EMFIT), combining strong piezoelectric response with a low density and softness, evidence their high potential for the air-coupled ultrasonic applications. The disadvantage of the low coupling factor is compensated by the extremely low acoustic impedance, which provides excellent matching to air and promises efficient sound transmission through the air–transducer interface. The influence of the electrodes on the electromechanical properties was investigated. Electron beam evaporation technology was adapted to the EMFIT films, and films with both-sided Au and Al electrodes were prepared without reducing or suppressing of the electromechanical properties. Finally, prototype transducers based on the EMFIT films were developed. In spite of the simple construction and absence of matching layers, high sensitivity of the EMFIT transducers was proved in the air-coupled ultrasonic experiment. Amplitude and delay time scanned images of the polyethylene step wedge with holes, obtained in both pulse-echo and transmission modes, demonstrate that non-contact ultrasonic imaging and testing with EMFIT transducers is possible. KW - Piezoelectric film KW - Air borne transducer KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2007 SN - 0947-8396 VL - 88 IS - 4 SP - 737 EP - 743 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-15074 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Döring, Joachim A1 - Bovtun, Viktor Petrovic A1 - Bartusch, Jürgen A1 - Erhard, Anton A1 - Kreutzbruck, Marc A1 - Yakymenko, Y. T1 - Nonlinear electromechanical response of the ferroelectret ultrasonic transducers N2 - The ultrasonic transmission between two air-coupled polypropylene (PP) ferroelectret (FE) transducers in dependence on the amplitude of the high-voltage exciting pulse revealed a strongly nonlinear electromechanical response of the FE transmitter. This phenomenon is described by a linear increase of the inverse electromechanical transducer constant t33(1) of the PP FE film with an increase of the exciting electrical pulse amplitude. Enlargement of t33(1) by a factor of 4 was achieved by application of 3500 V exciting pulses. The electrostriction contribution to t33(1) can be attributed to the electrostatic force between electrodes and the Maxwell stress effect. The nonlinear electromechanical properties of the PP FE result in a strong increase of its air-coupled ultrasonic (ACUS) figure of merit (FOM) under the high-voltage excitation, which exceeds results of the PP FE technological optimization. The FOM increase can be related to the increase of PP FE coupling factor and/or to the decrease of its acoustic impedance. A significant enhancement of the ACUS system transmission (12 dB) and signal-to-noise ratio (32 dB) was demonstrated by the increase of excitation voltage up to 3500 V. The nonlinear electromechanical properties of the PP FEs seem to be very important for their future applications. KW - Airborne ultrasonics KW - Electret film KW - Transducer KW - Nonlinearity PY - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-010-5752-7 SN - 0947-8396 VL - 100 IS - 2 SP - 479 EP - 485 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-21809 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Döring, Joachim A1 - Bovtun, V. A1 - Gaal, Mate A1 - Bartusch, Jürgen A1 - Erhard, Anton A1 - Kreutzbruck, Marc A1 - Yakymenko, Y. T1 - Piezoelectric and electrostrictive effects in ferroelectret ultrasonic transducers N2 - Electromechanical response of polypropylene ferroelectret transducers under application of high-voltage pulses was measured by laser Doppler vibrometry and compared with results of ultrasonic through-air transmission between two ferroelectret transducers. The electromechanical response was completely explained by piezoelectric and electrostrictive effects. The electrostrictive effect dominates at high voltages and provides significant enlargement of the transducer constant, up to factor of 2.5. The induced strain of 1.7% was achieved at – 2000 V. The nonlinear ultrasonic transmission was shown to be well described by the piezoelectric and electrostrictive response of transmitter, except in the range of high negative exciting voltages where some limitation of the transmitted signal was observed. This limitation seems not to be a fundamental one and does not abolish the advantages of high-voltage excitation of polypropylene ferroelectret transducers. KW - Electromechanical effects KW - Ferroelectric devices KW - Piezoelectric transducers KW - Piezoelectricity KW - Ultrasonic transducers KW - Ultrasonic transmission KW - Cellular polypropylene KW - Ferroelectret KW - Electrostriction PY - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4759052 SN - 0021-8979 SN - 1089-7550 VL - 112 IS - 8 SP - 084505-1 - 084505-6 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville, NY AN - OPUS4-26806 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gaal, Mate A1 - Bovtun, Viktor A1 - Stark, Wolfgang A1 - Erhard, Anton A1 - Yakymenko, Y. A1 - Kreutzbruck, Marc T1 - Viscoelastic properties of cellular polypropylene ferroelectrets N2 - Viscoelastic properties of cellular polypropylene ferroelectrets (PP FEs) were studied at low frequencies (0.3–33 Hz) by dynamic mechanical analysis and at high frequencies (250 kHz) by laser Doppler vibrometry. Relaxation behavior of the in-plane Young’s modulus (Y´ 11~1500 MPa at room temperature) was observed and attributed to the viscoelastic response of polypropylene matrix. The out-of-plane Young’s modulus is very small (Y´33≈0.1 MPa) at low frequencies, frequency- and stress-dependent, evidencing nonlinear viscoelastic response of PP FEs. The highfrequency mechanical response of PP FEs is shown to be linear viscoelastic with Y´33≈0.8 MPa. It is described by thickness vibration mode and modeled as a damped harmonic oscillator with one degree of freedom. Frequency dependence of Y*33 in the large dynamic strain regime is described by the broad Cole-Cole relaxation with a mean frequency in kHz range attributed to the Dynamics of the air flow between partially closed air-filled voids in PP FEs. Switching-off the relaxation contribution causes dynamic crossover from the nonlinear viscoelastic regime at low frequencies to the linear viscoelastic regime at high frequencies. In the small strain regime, contribution of the air flow seems to be insignificant and the power-law response, attributed to the mechanics of polypropylene cell walls and closed air voids, dominates in a broad frequency range. Mechanical Relaxation caused by the air flow mechanism takes place in the sound and ultrasound frequency range (10 Hz–1MHz) and, therefore, should be taken into account in ultrasonic applications of the PP FEs deal with strong exciting or receiving signals. KW - Viscoelastic KW - Cellular polypropylene KW - Ferroelectret PY - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4944798 SN - 0021-8979 SN - 1089-7550 SN - 1520-8850 VL - 119 SP - Article Number: 125101 PB - AIP Publishing AN - OPUS4-35956 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -