Cylindrically shaped ultrasonic linear array fabricated using PIMNT/epoxy 1-3 piezoelectric composite

In order to improve the flexibility of Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O-3-Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-PbTiO3 (PIMNT) single crystal and make full use of the ultrahigh piezoelectric property in focused ultrasonic transducers, PIMNT/epoxy 1-3 composite with a volume fraction of 60% was prepared by a modified dice-and-fill method. Excellent properties for ultrasonic transducer applications have been achieved, such as higher thickness electromechanical coupling coefficient (k(t) = 84%), lower acoustic impedance (Z = 19 MRayls), and moderate dielectric constant (epsilon(T)(33)/epsilon(0) = 2040). Based on the improved flexibility of as-prepared PIMNT/epoxy 1-3 composite, a cylindrically shaped ultrasonic linear array has been designed, fabricated, and characterized. The cylindrically shaped ultrasonic linear array has achieved an ultra-broad bandwidth (-6 dB) of 128%, which is a significant improvement over the plane linear array. These promising results show that the PIMNT/epoxy 1-3 composite can be used to develop high-performance focused ultrasonic transducers. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.