Use of sputtered zinc oxide film on aluminium foil substrate to produce a flexible and low profile ultrasonic transducer

Ruozhou Hou; Yong Qing Fu; David Hutson; Chao Zhao; Esteban Gimenez; Katherine J Kirk

doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2016.02.008

Use of sputtered zinc oxide film on aluminium foil substrate to produce a flexible and low profile ultrasonic transducer

Ruozhou Hou, Yong Qing Fu, David Hutson, Chao Zhao, Esteban Gimenez, Katherine J Kirk

University Of The West Of Scotland

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

A flexible and low profile ultrasonic transducer was fabricated for non-destructive testing (NDT) applications by DC sputtering of 3μm thick, c-axis oriented, ZnO film on 50μm aluminium foil. Due to the thin foil-based construction, the transducer can be applied to curved objects and used in sites of restricted accessibility. The device has been used to demonstrate detection of simulated defects in a 45mm diameter steel pipe, and for thickness measurement on a 3.1mm thick flat carbon steel plate. Centre frequency measured on the flat plate was 24-29MHz, with -6dB bandwidth 4-7MHz. The pulse duration depended on the couplant, at best 3 cycles or 0.12μs using SONO Ultragel or epoxy couplant. Transducer performance was found to be comparable to a commercial 10MHz piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	54-60
Number of pages	7
Journal	Ultrasonics
Volume	68
Early online date	13 Feb 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultras.2016.02.008
Publication status	Published - May 2016

Keywords

Zinc oxide
thin film
DC sputtering
flexible ultrasonic transducer
non-destructive testing

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10.1016/j.ultras.2016.02.008

2016 02 09 Hou et al Sputtered acceptedAccepted author manuscript, 769 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Use of sputtered zinc oxide film on aluminium foil substrate to produce a flexible and low profile ultrasonic transducer",

abstract = "A flexible and low profile ultrasonic transducer was fabricated for non-destructive testing (NDT) applications by DC sputtering of 3μm thick, c-axis oriented, ZnO film on 50μm aluminium foil. Due to the thin foil-based construction, the transducer can be applied to curved objects and used in sites of restricted accessibility. The device has been used to demonstrate detection of simulated defects in a 45mm diameter steel pipe, and for thickness measurement on a 3.1mm thick flat carbon steel plate. Centre frequency measured on the flat plate was 24-29MHz, with -6dB bandwidth 4-7MHz. The pulse duration depended on the couplant, at best 3 cycles or 0.12μs using SONO Ultragel or epoxy couplant. Transducer performance was found to be comparable to a commercial 10MHz piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer.",

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AU - Hou, Ruozhou

AU - Fu, Yong Qing

AU - Hutson, David

AU - Zhao, Chao

AU - Gimenez, Esteban

AU - Kirk, Katherine J

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AB - A flexible and low profile ultrasonic transducer was fabricated for non-destructive testing (NDT) applications by DC sputtering of 3μm thick, c-axis oriented, ZnO film on 50μm aluminium foil. Due to the thin foil-based construction, the transducer can be applied to curved objects and used in sites of restricted accessibility. The device has been used to demonstrate detection of simulated defects in a 45mm diameter steel pipe, and for thickness measurement on a 3.1mm thick flat carbon steel plate. Centre frequency measured on the flat plate was 24-29MHz, with -6dB bandwidth 4-7MHz. The pulse duration depended on the couplant, at best 3 cycles or 0.12μs using SONO Ultragel or epoxy couplant. Transducer performance was found to be comparable to a commercial 10MHz piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer.

KW - Zinc oxide

KW - thin film

KW - DC sputtering

KW - flexible ultrasonic transducer

KW - non-destructive testing

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JF - Ultrasonics

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Use of sputtered zinc oxide film on aluminium foil substrate to produce a flexible and low profile ultrasonic transducer

Abstract

Keywords

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