Bulk wave

The use of air-bome ultrasound for the excitation and reception of surface or bulk waves introduces a number of problems. The acoustic impedance mismatch which exists at the transducer/air and the air/sample interfaces is the dominant factor to be overcome in this system. Typical values for these three media are about 35 MRayls for a piezo-ceramic (PZT) element and 45 MRayls for steel, compared with just 0.0004 MRayls for air. The transmission coefficient T for energy from a medium 1 into a medium 2 is given by... 

A chemical microsensor can be defined as an extremely small device that detects components in gases or Hquids (52—55). Ideally, such a sensor generates a response which either varies with the nature or concentration of the material or is reversible for repeated cycles of exposure. Of the many types of microsensors that have been described (56), three are the most prominent the chemiresistor, the bulk-wave piezoelectric quartz crystal sensor, and the surface acoustic wave (saw) device (57). 

Bulk-wave piezoelectric quartz crystal sensors indirecdy measure mass changes of the coating on the surface of the sensing device. This change in mass causes changes in the resonant frequency of the device, and measurements ate based on frequency differences. 

Bnlk wave devices have different tolerances and recently Capelle, Zarka and co-workers have studied bulk waves in qnartz resonators and used stroboscopy to identify unwanted modes associated with defects. They have also performed tine section topography in stroboscopic mode to identify if the interaction between a dislocation and the acoustic wave could be described by simple linear piezoelectric theory. Using simulation of the section topographs to analyse the data, they conclnded that a non-Unear interaction was present near to the dislocation line, linear theory working satisfactorily in the region far from the defect. Etch channels appeared to have more inflnence on the acoustic wave than individnal dislocations. 

Fig. 11.4. Velocities of bulk and surface waves in an (001) plane the angle of propagation in the plane is relative to a [100] direction, (a) Zirconia, anisotropy factor Aan = 0.36 (b) gallium arsenide, anisotropy factor Aan = 1.83 material constants taken from Table 11.3. Bulk polarizations L, longitudinal SV, shear vertical, polarized normal to the (001) plane SH, shear horizontal, polarized in the (001) plane. Surface modes R, Rayleigh, slower than any bulk wave in that propagation direction PS, pseudo-surface wave, faster than one polarization of bulk shear wave propagating in...

Fig. 4.19 Lattice distortion in Rayleigh wave defining the saggital plane (a) longitudinal (bulk) wave (b) y-polarized (shear bulk) wave (c) y-0-z polarized Rayleigh waves (SAW waves) all propagating in the z-direction...

Figure 339 Symmetric (S) and anti-symmetric (A) Lamb wave characteristics. Vertical axis Lamb-wave velocity normalized to transverse bulk-wave velocity. Horizontal axis Product k4 where kt = transverse wavenumber = 27r/At, where At is transverse wavelength and d is plate thickness. (Reprimed with permission. See Ref. [61]. 1967 Plenum Press.)...

Thin-Film Compressional Bulk-Wave Sensor... 

Royal Melbourne Dept, of Communication SAW and bulk-wave... 

Laser ultrasonic transducers are truly non-contact devices which effectively avoid acoustic coupling problems (e.g. damping in the transducer and couplant reflection and transmission losses at the interface). Most laser ultrasonic devices have been used for excitation and detection of bulk elastic waves in point source or planar geometry, but also surface acoustic (Rayleigh or Brillouin) waves. Unlike the bulk wave regime, only one sample side is needed for excitation and detection when surface waves are used. This not only renders the measurements easier, but also avoids the need for an accurate knowledge and uniformity of the sample thickness. In addition, the excitation laser can be focused using cylindrical lenses in order to obtain an excitation line. 

On the transducer side, there have been more recent developments like the Lamb oscillator or the so-called film bulk acoustic resonators (FEAR). Lamb wave devices are related to SAW in terms of using interdigitated structures for transduction. The difference, however, is that in a Lamb wave resonator not only the surface, but the entire bulk of the device oscillates. This makes it much less sensitive against viscous damping. FEAR on the other hand consist of a metal/aluminium nitride/metal sandwich, where bulk waves (thickness oscillations) are induced in the AIN material. Eoth these devices have in com-... 

The most commonly known oscillator sensors are bulk acoustic wave (BAW) and surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. The BAW devices operate according to the Sauerbrey principle that very thin films on AT-cut crystals can be treated as equivalent mass changes of the crystal. The SAW devices can operate either on the Rayleigh wave propagation principle at solid thin-film boundaries [3] or as bulk wave devices [4]. 

This technique was used successfully to show that bovine plexiform bone was definitely orthotropic while bovine haversian bone could be treated as transversely isotropic [Lipson and Katz, 1984]. The results were subsequently confirmed using bulk wave propagation techniques with considerable redundancy [Maharidge, 1984]. 

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