Medical Transducer Arrays using Composite Materials

for Acoustic Matching Layers

Toshio Kondo* and Hiroyuki Fujimoto
Faculty of Engineering, Tokushima Bunri University, 1314-1 Sanuki, Kagawa, Japan, 769-2193

Abstract - The vibration mode of the arrays with

two matching layers is studied by simulation of finite
elements. The results obtained by the simulation
indicate that the Poissons ratio of the matching
layers gives great effect on the vibration mode of the
array. That is, the characteristics of the array are
improved, as Poissons ratio is smaller. For such
materials to be realized, carbon fiber-epoxy and
Dyneema-polyurethane unidirectional composite
materials for matching layers are proposed, and the
simulation results based on the data of those
materials are presented.
I INTRODUCTION
Increasing the sensitivity of transducer arrays in a
medical diagnostic system and decreasing
mechanical coupling between the elements are
genuine problems. The use of quarter-wave
matching layers as impedance transformation has
been standard practice for attaining high conversion
efficiency of transducer arrays. Masons model or
the KLM-model is widely used for design of the
transducer and optimal acoustic impedance of the
matching layers is determined on the model.1) It is
difficult to solve the more detail problems by such
one-dimensional model as KLM-model. However,
computer simulations of transducer arrays by three
dimensional finite elements give the deeper insight
into the wave propagation in multi matching layers
of a transducer. The transducer arrays under
consideration had two matching layers on
piezoelectric elements and a backing block. The
simulation and the experiment executed for a
conventional transducer arrays are in good
agreement. The simulation with many cases of
Poissons ratio indicate that Poissons ratio of the

0-7803-7922-5/03/$17.00 (c) 2003 IEEE

matching layers gives a great effect for the

sensitivity and the mechanical-coupling between the
elements. That is, the characteristics of the arrays are
improved, as the Poissons ratio is smaller. The
isotropic material under 0.1 of which Poissons ratio
is very small does not exist, whereas the anisotropic
material such as carbon-epoxy unidirectional
composite material has a very low Poissons ratio
under 0.1. Unidirectional composites made of
Carbon-epoxy and high strength polyethylene
fiber-polyurethane allow the realization of the
materials under 0.1 Poissons ratio, where the
materials have optimum acoustic impedance for the
matching layers. From those facts we have had the
ideas that the improvement of the transducer arrays
can be expected by adopting the materials to the
matching layers. Satisfactory results have been
obtained in computer simulations of the transducer
arrays model based on the data of newly proposed
composite materials.
II

SIMULATION OF TRANSDUCER
ARRAYS BY FINITE ELEMENTS

Conventional Transducer Arrays

In order to improve characteristics of transducer
arrays we analyzed vibration mode for conventional
ones. The structure and dimension of the array
under consideration are shown in Fig.1. Elements of
the array consist of two acoustic matching layers and
Piezo-ceramics on a backing. The gaps between the
elements are filled with soft silicon rubber.
The properties of materials used in the transducer
array are shown in Table 1. To examine mechanical
cross-coupling between three element of the
transducer array shown in Fig.1, the vibration mode
of the array was obtained by the simulation of finite

2003 IEEE ULTRASONICS SYMPOSIUM-1318

elements, where the simulation was performed by

ANSYS2) computer program.

Matching
Layers

0.19 mm
PZT
0.18 mm
Backing
0.17 mm
Phase 1

0.22 mm

Phase 2

Phase 3

Figure 2: The vibration mode of the array.

Displacement is magnified 2000 times.
Figure 1: The structure and dimension of the array.
Table 1. The properties of the acoustic
matching layers and backing.

Density
(kg/m3)
Modulus
(GPa)
Poissons
ratio
Acoustic
impedance
(MRayl)

Epoxy
resin
containing
W powder

Polyurethane
resin

4400

1090

3420

6.37

1.03

4.54

0.4

0.45

0.42

7.8

2.1

6.3

Backing
(1) Poissons ratio: 0.45

Fig. 2 shows the cross sectional views of vibrating

elements on a backing. In the each array the upper
electrodes of three elements and the lower electrodes
of both side ones are electrically grounded, while
lower electrodes of center element is energized.
Fig.2 shows that the lateral vibration of a center
element propagates to adjacent elements though
silicon rubber.
The usefulness of the finite element simulation
was verified by the experiment. The vibration of the
transducer array was measured by a newly
developed optical heterodyne interferometer. The
simulation and the experiment executed for a
conventional transducer array are in good agreement.

(2) Poissons ratio: 0.25

(3) Poissons ratio: 0.1

Figure3: The change of the vibration mode with the
Poissons ratio variation of the matching
layers. Displacement is magnified 2000
times.

2003 IEEE ULTRASONICS SYMPOSIUM-1319

In a further step the influence of Poissons ratio on

the vibration mode of the elements is analyzed by
computer simulation. The results shown in Fig. 3
indicate that Poissons ratio of the matching layers
gives a great effect for the vibration mode. That is,
the element with the matching layers of Poissons
ratio 0.1 vibrates like simple pistons.
For the improvement of the array, it is necessary
to investigate the new materials with a very low
Poissons ratio under 0.1. However, the suitable
isotropic materials under 0.1 of which Poissons
ratio is very small have not been found in literatures.3)
Composite Materials
The anisotropic material such as carbon-epoxy
unidirectional composite material has a very low
Poissons
ratio
below
0.1.
Carbon-epoxy
unidirectional composites mixed with tungsten
powder and Dyneema-polyurethane allow the
realization of the materials with a Poissons ratio
below 0.1, where the materials also have an optimum
acoustic impedance for the matching layers.
Dyneema is a trademark of TOYOBO in Japan,
which is highly crystalline polyethylene fiber
(crystallinity of about 80 %) and has ultra-high
molecular weight and ultra-high molecular chain
orientation.8) From these facts we found that the
improvement of the transducer arrays can be
expected by adopting the composite materials to the
matching layers.
To obtain suitable acoustic impedance and Poisons
ratio for matching layers the general mechanical
properties of composite materials are given as
follows.4),5)
The following consideration is based on the model
of an unidirectional composite material shown in
Fig.4.
Properties related to loading in fiber direction L,
EL and vLT are dominated by the fibers that are
usually stiffer, and a lower ultimate strain.
The longitudinal modulus is given by
EL=Vf Ef+Vm Em,

(1)

where Ef and Em are longitudinal fiber and matrix

moduli, respectively and Vf and Vm are the fiber
and matrix volume ratio, respectively.

Figure 4: a unidirectional composite material

and coordinates.
Em. For composites with very stiff fiber, i.e., when
Ef>>Em and reasonable values of Vf , the above
equation can be simplified as
EL= Vf Ef.

(2)

The rule of mixtures predicted for the longitudinal

Poissons ratio is given by a similar relation
vLT=vLfVf+vmVm ,

(3)

where vLf is the longitudinal Poissons ratio of the

fiber and vm is Poissons ratio of the matrix.
The composite is represented by a series model of
matrix and fiber elements yielding the following
relation for transverse modulus:
ET=ETf Em/(Vf Em+ Vm ETf),

(4)

where ETf is the transverse modulus of the fiber.2)

The transverse Poissons ratio of the composite is
given by the following equation.4)
vTL =vLT(ET/ EL).

(5)

Example1: The carbon-epoxy unidirectional composite was adopted to the first matching layer of a
newly proposed array. The values of carbon fiber
and epoxy moduli, Ef and Em are 300 (GPa) and 4
(GPa), respectively.7),8) The longitudinal Poissons
ratio vLT of the carbon-epoxy unidirectional
composite is typically 0.3.5) The transverse Poissons
ratio of the composite vTL calculated with Eq.(5) is
much lower than the longitudinal one. That is,
vTL=0.004.
Eample2:For adoption of Dyneema-polyurethane

2003 IEEE ULTRASONICS SYMPOSIUM-1320

composite9) to the second matching layer of the array,

their modulas and Poissons ratio was calculated by
using Eqs.(1)~(5). The transverse Poissons ratio
and modulus of the composites are as follows:
vTL=0.0038, ET=1 (GPa), EL=120 (GPa).
A Transducer Array using Composite Materials
The structure of a transducer array using
composite materials proposed in this study is shown
in Fig.5.
In order to investigate the characteristics of the
transducer array using composite materials as the
acoustic matching layers, the vibration modes were
obtained by three dimensional finite element
calculation. The obtained results are shown in Fig.6.
The element vibration is closest to the ideal piston
mode as to shape.
Dyneema-Polyurethan
Composite
Carbon-Epoxy
Composite
PZT
Baking
Figure 5: The structure of a transducer array
using composite materials.

Fig.6: The vibration mode of the element using

composite materials for matching layers.

III

CONCLUSION

We found out the carbon-epoxy and Dyneemapolyurethane composites which have optimum
Poissons ratio and acoustic impedance for matching
layers of a transducer array. It was explained by the
finite element simulation that the transducer array
using these unidirectonal composites vibrates like
simple piston. It is expected that the vibration of
ideal piston mode offers good performance in terms
of high sensitivity and less mechanical crosscoupling.
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*Toshio Kondo e-mail: tkondo@fe.bunri-u.ac.jp

2003 IEEE ULTRASONICS SYMPOSIUM-1321