Air-coupled ferroelectret ultrasonic transducers applied to testing of fiber-reinforced polymers
(2013)
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.
Ferroelectrets are promising materials for air-coupled ultrasonic transducers. A transducer made of polarized cellular polypropylene, including its electronic interface, was developed and compared with conventional air-coupled probes. Test pieces of fiber-reinforced polymer containing impact flaws and flat-bottom holes were inspected in transmission. The ferroelectret transducers achieved a considerably higher signal-to-noise ratio. The impacts were clearly visible with all transducers, but less noisy with ferroelectret transducers. The flat-bottom holes were better detectable than with a conventional probe with about the same focus size.