Showing papers in "Ultrasonics in 2013"
TL;DR: It is found that lightweight and normal weight concretes are affected differently by mix design parameters, and the prediction of the concrete's compressive strength by means of the non-destructive ultrasonic pulse velocity test is studied.
Abstract: In this paper the compressive strength of a wide range of structural lightweight aggregate concrete mixes is evaluated by the non-destructive ultrasonic pulse velocity method. This study involves about 84 different compositions tested between 3 and 180 days for compressive strengths ranging from about 30 to 80 MPa. The influence of several factors on the relation between the ultrasonic pulse velocity and compressive strength is examined. These factors include the cement type and content, amount of water, type of admixture, initial wetting conditions, type and volume of aggregate and the partial replacement of normal weight coarse and fine aggregates by lightweight aggregates. It is found that lightweight and normal weight concretes are affected differently by mix design parameters. In addition, the prediction of the concrete's compressive strength by means of the non-destructive ultrasonic pulse velocity test is studied. Based on the dependence of the ultrasonic pulse velocity on the density and elasticity of concrete, a simplified expression is proposed to estimate the compressive strength, regardless the type of concrete and its composition. More than 200 results for different types of aggregates and concrete compositions were analyzed and high correlation coefficients were obtained.
259 citations
TL;DR: Broadband and narrowband chirp excitations are utilized to address the need to both test at multiple frequencies and achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio to minimize acquisition time.
Abstract: Most ultrasonic guided wave methods require tone burst excitations to achieve some degree of mode purity while maintaining temporal resolution. In addition, it is often desirable to acquire data using multiple frequencies, particularly during method development when the best frequency for a specific application is not known. However, this process is inconvenient and time-consuming, particularly if extensive signal averaging at each excitation frequency is required to achieve a satisfactory signal-to-noise ratio. Both acquisition time and data storage requirements may be prohibitive if responses from many narrowband tone burst excitations are measured. Here chirp excitations are utilized to address the need to both test at multiple frequencies and achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio to minimize acquisition time. A broadband chirp is used to acquire data at a wide range of frequencies, and deconvolution is applied to extract multiple narrowband responses. After optimizing the frequency and duration of the desired tone burst excitation, a long-time narrowband chirp is used as the actual excitation, and the desired tone burst response is similarly extracted during post-processing. Results are shown that demonstrate the efficacy of both broadband and narrowband chirp excitations.
204 citations
TL;DR: Results show the promise of local wavenumber domain analysis to characterize the depth of delamination damage in composite laminates and can find application in automated vehicle health assurance systems with potential for high detection rates and greatly reduced operator effort and setup time.
Abstract: Delaminations in composite laminates resulting from impact events may be accompanied by minimal indication of damage at the surface. As such, inspections are required to ensure defects are within allowable limits. Conventional ultrasonic scanning techniques have been shown to effectively characterize the size and depth of delaminations but require physical contact with the structure and considerable setup time. Alternatively, a non-contact scanning laser vibrometer may be used to measure guided wave propagation in the laminate structure generated by permanently bonded transducers. A local Fourier domain analysis method is presented for processing guided wavefield data to estimate spatially dependent wavenumber values, which can be used to determine delamination depth. The technique is applied to simulated wavefields and results are analyzed to determine limitations of the technique with regards to determining defect size and depth. Based on simulation results, guidelines for application of the technique are developed. Finally, experimental wavefield data is obtained in quasi-isotropic carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates with impact damage. The recorded wavefields are analyzed and wavenumber is measured to an accuracy of up to 8.5% in the region of shallow delaminations. These results show the promise of local wavenumber domain analysis to characterize the depth of delamination damage in composite laminates. The technique can find application in automated vehicle health assurance systems with potential for high detection rates and greatly reduced operator effort and setup time.
191 citations
TL;DR: This paper proposes to perform and assess CS reconstruction of channel RF data using the recently introduced wave atoms [1] representation, which exhibit advantageous properties for sparsely representing such oscillatory patterns and shows the superiority of the wave atom representation.
Abstract: Compressive sensing (CS) theory makes it possible – under certain assumptions – to recover a signal or an image sampled below the Nyquist sampling limit. In medical ultrasound imaging, CS could allow lowering the amount of acquired data needed to reconstruct the echographic image. CS thus offers the perspective of speeding up echographic acquisitions and could have many applications, e.g. triplex acquisitions for CFM/B-mode/Doppler imaging, high-frame-rate echocardiography, 3D imaging using matrix probes, etc. The objective of this paper is to study the feasibility of CS for the reconstruction of channel RF data, i.e. the 2D set of raw RF lines gathered at the receive elements. Successful application of CS implies selecting a representation basis where the data to be reconstructed have a sparse expansion. Because they consist mainly in warped oscillatory patterns, channel RF data do not easily lend themselves to a sparse representation and thus represent a specific challenge. Within this perspective, we propose to perform and assess CS reconstruction of channel RF data using the recently introduced wave atoms [1] representation, which exhibit advantageous properties for sparsely representing such oscillatory patterns. Reconstructions obtained using wave atoms are compared with the reconstruction performed with two conventional representation bases, namely Fourier and Daubechies wavelets. The first experiment was conducted on simulated channel RF data acquired from a numerical cyst phantom. The quality of the reconstructions was quantified through the mean absolute error at varying subsampling rates by removing 50–90% of the original samples. The results obtained for channel RF data reconstruction yield error ranges of [0.6–3.0] × 10−2, [0.2–2.6] × 10−2, [0.1–1.5] × 10−2, for wavelets, Fourier and wave atoms respectively. The error ranges observed for the associated beamformed log-envelope images are [2.4–20.6] dB, [1.1–12.2] dB, and [0.5–8.8 dB] using wavelets, Fourier, and wave atoms, respectively. These results thus show the superiority of the wave atom representation and the feasibility of CS for the reconstruction of US RF data. The second experiment aimed at showing the experimental feasibility of the method proposed using a data set acquired by imaging a general-purpose phantom (CIRS Model 054GS) using an Ultrasonix MDP scanner. The reconstruction was performed by removing 80% of the initial samples and using wave atoms. The reconstructed image was found to reliably preserve the speckle structure and was associated with an error of 5.5 dB.
124 citations
TL;DR: The objective is to improve lateral resolution and obtain a more depth independent resolution compared to conventional ultrasound imaging in synthetic aperture sequential beamforming.
Abstract: Synthetic aperture sequential beamforming (SASB) is a novel technique which allows to implement synthetic aperture beamforming on a system with a restricted complexity, and without storing RF-data. The objective is to improve lateral resolution and obtain a more depth independent resolution compared to conventional ultrasound imaging. SASB is a two-stage procedure using two separate beamformers. The initial step is to construct and store a set of B-mode image lines using a single focal point in both transmit and receive. The focal points are considered virtual sources and virtual receivers making up a virtual array. The second stage applies the focused image lines from the first stage as input data, and take advantage of the virtual array in the delay and sum beamforming. The size of the virtual array is dynamically expanded and the image is dynamically focused in both transmit and receive and a range independent lateral resolution is obtained. The SASB method has been investigated using simulations in Field II and by off-line processing of data acquired with a commercial scanner. The lateral resolution increases with a decreasing F#. Grating lobes appear if F# ⩽ 2 for a linear array with λ-pitch. The performance of SASB with the virtual source at 20 mm and F# = 1.5 is compared with conventional dynamic receive focusing (DRF). The axial resolution is the same for the two methods. For the lateral resolution there is improvement in FWHM of at least a factor of 2 and the improvement at −40 dB is at least a factor of 3. With SASB the resolution is almost constant throughout the range. For DRF the FWHM increases almost linearly with range and the resolution at −40 dB is fluctuating with range. The theoretical potential improvement in SNR of SASB over DRF has been estimated. An improvement is attained at the entire range, and at a depth of 80 mm the improvement is 8 dB.
110 citations
TL;DR: The results of this study show for the first time that although initial vaporization of droplets is necessary to create echogenic bubbles, additional factors, such as coalescence and bubble shell properties, are important and should be carefully considered for the production of microbubbles for use in medical imaging.
Abstract: Submicron droplets of liquid perfluorocarbon converted into microbubbles with applied ultrasound have been studied, for a number of years, as potential next generation extravascular ultrasound contrast agents. In this work, we conduct an initial ultra-high-speed optical imaging study to examine the vaporization of submicron droplets and observe the newly created microbubbles in the first microseconds after vaporization. It was estimated that single pulses of ultrasound at 10 MHz with pressures within the diagnostic range are able to vaporize on the order of at least 10% of the exposed droplets. However, only part of the newly created microbubbles survives immediately following vaporization – the bubbles may recondense back into the liquid droplet state within microseconds of nucleation. The probability of bubble survival within the first microseconds of vaporization was shown to depend on ultrasound excitation pressure as well as on bubble coalescence during vaporization, a behavior influenced by the presence of coating material on the newly created bubbles. The results of this study show for the first time that although initial vaporization of droplets is necessary to create echogenic bubbles, additional factors, such as coalescence and bubble shell properties, are important and should be carefully considered for the production of microbubbles for use in medical imaging.
90 citations
TL;DR: Ultrasonically assisted machining (UAM) is an advanced machining technique, which has been shown to improve machinability of a β-titanium alloy, namely, Ti-15- 3-3-3, when compared to conventional turning processes.
Abstract: Although titanium alloys have outstanding mechanical properties such as high hot hardness, a good strength-to-weight ratio and high corrosion resistance; their low thermal conductivity, high chemical affinity to tool materials severely impair their machinability. Ultrasonically assisted machining (UAM) is an advanced machining technique, which has been shown to improve machinability of a β-titanium alloy, namely, Ti-15-3-3-3, when compared to conventional turning processes.
86 citations
TL;DR: Experimental results show that welding using a Bezier horn has a high interface temperature and the welded joints had higher strength as compared to the other horn profiles.
Abstract: Ultrasonic horns are tuned components designed to vibrate in a longitudinal mode at ultrasonic frequencies. Reliable performance of such horns is normally decided by the uniformity of vibration amplitude at the working surface and the stress developed during loading condition. The horn design engineer must pay particular attention to designing a tool that will produce the desired amplitude without fracturing. The present work discusses horn configurations which satisfy these criteria and investigates the design requirements of horns in ultrasonic system. Different horn profiles for ultrasonic welding of thermoplastics have been characterized in terms of displacement amplitude and von-Mises stresses using modal and harmonic analysis. To validate the simulated results, five different horns are fabricated from Aluminum, tested and tuned to the operating frequency. Standard ABS plastic parts are welded using these horns. Temperature developed during the welding of ABS test parts using different horns is recorded using sensors and National Instruments (NIs) data acquisition system. The recorded values are compared with the predicted values. Experimental results show that welding using a Bezier horn has a high interface temperature and the welded joints had higher strength as compared to the other horn profiles.
81 citations
TL;DR: An omni-directional SH magnetostrictive patch transducer that consists of an annular magnetostriction patch, a toroidal coil and a permanent magnet is proposed.
Abstract: As an effective tool to inspect large plates, omni-directional guided wave transducers have become more widely used to form phased-array inspection systems. While omni-directional Lamb wave transducers have been successfully utilized in the systems, omni-directional Shear-Horizontal (SH) wave transducers have not been investigated. In this paper, we propose an omni-directional SH magnetostrictive patch transducer that consists of an annular magnetostrictive patch, a toroidal coil and a permanent magnet. After presenting the unique configuration of the proposed transducer and its working principle, the omni-directivity of the developed transducer is verified through simulations and experiments conducted in an aluminum plate. The frequency characteristics of the proposed transducer depending on the patch size are also investigated as the underlying reference data for future construction of an SH phased-array system.
75 citations
TL;DR: Due to partial understanding of mechanisms involved in application of ultrasonic waves as enhanced oil recovery method, series of straight, and ultrasonic stimulated water-flooding experiments were conducted on a long unconsolidated sand pack using ultrasonic transducers to increase the insight to involving mechanisms which lead to improving the recovery of oil.
Abstract: Due to partial understanding of mechanisms involved in application of ultrasonic waves as enhanced oil recovery method, series of straight (normal), and ultrasonic stimulated water-flooding experiments were conducted on a long unconsolidated sand pack using ultrasonic transducers. Kerosene, vaseline, and SAE-10 (engine oil) were used as non-wet phase in the system. In addition, a series of fluid flow and temperature rise experiments were conducted using ultrasonic bath in order to enhance the understanding about contributing mechanisms. 3–16% increase in the recovery of water-flooding was observed. Emulsification, viscosity reduction, and cavitation were identified as contributing mechanisms. The findings of this study are expected to increase the insight to involving mechanisms which lead to improving the recovery of oil as a result of application of ultrasound waves.
69 citations
TL;DR: A bias control technique involving the use of a second (reference) specimen for CWI analysis that is designed to compensate the thermally-induced velocity variation due to environmental temperature fluctuations and bias originating from experimental procedures is offered.
Abstract: The Coda Wave Interferometry (CWI) analysis serves to monitor the variation of propagation velocity in a heterogeneous medium with high precision (10(-3)% in relative terms). In combination with acoustoelastic theory, this type of analysis offers an NDT method for stress evaluation and/or damage detection. Since the CWI method is intended to evaluate extreme levels of accuracy, the presence of bias under certain circumstances can undermine evaluation results and/or test repeatability. In this paper, we offer a bias control technique involving the use of a second (reference) specimen for CWI analysis that is designed to compensate: (1) the thermally-induced velocity variation due to environmental temperature fluctuations; and (2) bias originating from experimental procedures. The presentation of this technique contains both a theoretical analysis and experimental protocol for the purpose of implementation. Furthermore, comparisons of experimental results have been included in order to demonstrate the utility of this bias control technique under laboratory conditions.
TL;DR: The thermal sensitivity gives insight to how temperature affects Lamb wave speeds in different frequency ranges and will help those developing structural health monitoring algorithms.
Abstract: One of the drawbacks of the current Lamb wave structural health monitoring methods are the false positives due to changing environmental conditions such as temperature. To create an environmental insensitive damage detection scheme, the physics of thermal effects on Lamb waves must be understood. Dispersion and thermal sensitivity curves for an isotropic plate with thermal stress and thermally varying elastic modulus are presented. The thermal sensitivity of dispersion curves is analytically developed and validated by experimental measurements. The group velocity thermal sensitivity highlights temperature insensitive features at two critical frequencies. The thermal sensitivity gives us insight to how temperature affects Lamb wave speeds in different frequency ranges and will help those developing structural health monitoring algorithms.
TL;DR: The result shows that the approaching of two kinds of gaps not only broadens the bandwidth of the resonance gap, but also increases the depth of the Bragg gap since the interaction between resonant modes and scattering waves are enhanced.
Abstract: Three-dimensional (3D) locally resonant sonic materials (LRSMs) are studied theoretically for purpose of optimising their sub-wavelength performance by coupling resonance and Bragg scattering effects together. Through the study of effective sound speeds of LRSMs, we find that the starting frequency of Bragg scattering can be shifted to sub-wavelength region by softening coats of resonators when the matrix is a low shear-velocity medium. A similar result can be achieved by compressing the lattice constant. By using a layer-multiple-scattering method, we investigate the complex band structure and the transmission spectrum of an LRSM whose Bragg gap is already close to the resonance gap in frequency. The wave fields of the composite simulated by COMSOL are further analysed at several typical frequencies. The result shows that the approaching of two kinds of gaps not only broadens the bandwidth of the resonance gap, but also increases the depth of the Bragg gap since the interaction between resonant modes and scattering waves are enhanced. By varying the shear velocity of coats, we obtain a coupled gap, which exhibits a broad transmission gap in the sub-wavelength region. When the loss of coats is considered, the coupled gap can not only maintain a good sound blocking performance, but also perform an efficient absorption in the low frequency region.
TL;DR: It is observed that a 13% reduction in the average force was achieved when ultrasonic vibration with amplitude of 2.5 μm at 20 kHz is applied and further reduction in ECAP forming forces are obtained with increase of vibration amplitude, vibration frequency and friction factor.
Abstract: Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is one of the most prominent procedures for achieving ultra-fine grain (UFG) structures among the various severe plastic deformation (SPD) techniques. In this study, the effect of ultrasonic vibration on deformation behavior of commercial pure aluminum in the ECAP process is analyzed successfully using three dimensional (3D) by finite element methods (FEMs). The investigation includes the effects of die geometry, billet length, friction factor, ram speed, ultrasonic amplitude and ultrasonic frequency. Conventional as well as ultrasonic ECAP has been performed on aluminium 1070 alloy and the obtained data were used for validating simulations. It is observed that a 13% reduction in the average force was achieved when ultrasonic vibration with amplitude of 2.5 μm at 20 kHz is applied. Also, further reduction in ECAP forming forces are obtained with increase of vibration amplitude, vibration frequency, friction factor, billet length and die channel angle.
TL;DR: Since FTC improves the efficacy of sonodynamic therapy (SDT) in GSCs by inhibiting ABCG2-mediated efflux of Photofrin, FTC may be useful in SDT treatment of ABCG 2-expressing cancer cells.
Abstract: We aimed to investigate the role of the ABCG2 transporter in the efficacy of sonodynamic therapy (SDT) with Photofrin in the glioma stem-like cells (GSCs) isolated and cultured from U251 glioma cells. Immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry analyses showed that ABCG2 was overexpressed in GSCs, and the percentage of ABCG2-positive GSCs was approximately 100%. The effect of ABCG2 on Photofrin extrusion in the absence or presence of a specific inhibitor of ABCG2 (fumitremorgin C; FTC) was investigated by determining the intracellular concentration of Photofrin in GSCs incubated with 20μg/ml Photofrin. Extrusion of Photofrin by ABCG2 was inhibited by 10μM FTC, which significantly increased the intracellular Photofrin concentration (p<0.05) from 0.32±0.11μg/10(6) cells to 0.89±0.13μg/10(6) cells. MTT and TUNEL assays showed that the antitumor effect of SDT (incubation of GSCs with 20μg/ml Photofrin for 6h in the dark and ultrasonic activation at 1.0MHz and 0.5W/cm(2) for 2min) was significantly improved by FTC pretreatment (p<0.05). Moreover, incubation of GSCs with FTC significantly increased the relative production of ROS in response to SDT. The overexpression of ABCG2 in GSCs results in efflux of Photofrin, indicating that the antitumor effect of SDT with Photofrin may be reduced in GSCs overexpressing ABCG2. However, since FTC improves the efficacy of SDT in GSCs by inhibiting ABCG2-mediated efflux of Photofrin, FTC may be useful in SDT treatment of ABCG2-expressing cancer cells.
TL;DR: A Semi-Analytical Finite Element (SAFE) formulation coupled with a 2.5D Boundary Element Method (BEM) for the computation of the dispersion properties of viscoelastic waveguides with arbitrary cross-section and embedded in unbounded isotropic vis co-elastic media is presented.
Abstract: The paper presents a Semi-Analytical Finite Element (SAFE) formulation coupled with a 2.5D Boundary Element Method (BEM) for the computation of the dispersion properties of viscoelastic waveguides with arbitrary cross-section and embedded in unbounded isotropic viscoelastic media. Attenuation of guided modes is described through the imaginary component of the axial wavenumber, which accounts for material damping, introduced via linear viscoelastic constitutive relations, as well as energy loss due to radiation of bulk waves in the surrounding media. Energy radiation is accounted in the SAFE model by introducing an equivalent dynamic stiffness matrix for the surrounding medium, which is derived from a regularized 2.5D boundary element formulation. The resulting dispersive wave equation is configured as a nonlinear eigenvalue problem in the complex axial wavenumber. The eigenvalue problem is reduced to a linear one inside a chosen contour in the complex plane of the axial wavenumber by using a contour integral method. Poles of leaky and evanescent modes are obtained by choosing appropriately the phase of the wavenumbers normal to the interface in compliance with the nature of the waves in the surrounding medium. Finally, the obtained eigensolutions are post-processed to compute the energy velocity and the radiated wavefield in the surrounding domain. The reliability of the method is first validated on existing results for waveguides of circular cross sections embedded in elastic and viscoelastic media. Next, the potential of the proposed numerical framework is shown by computing the dispersion properties for a square steel bar embedded in grout and for an H-shaped steel pile embedded in soil.
TL;DR: Through this investigation it is demonstrated that a correlation exists between the bond strength and a frequency shift in reflection minimum, and the spectrum shift was found to depend on the value of interfacial transverse stiffness using which a qualitative assessment can be made on the integrity of the joint.
Abstract: Experimental and theoretical studies on degradation of composite-epoxy adhesive joints were carried out on samples having different interfacial and cohesive properties. Oblique incidence ultrasonic inspection of bonded joints revealed that degradation in the adhesive can be measured by significant variation in reflection amplitude as also by a shift in the minima of reflection spectrum. It was observed that severe degradation of the adhesive leads to failure dominated by interfacial mode. Through this investigation it is demonstrated that a correlation exists between the bond strength and a frequency shift in reflection minimum. The experimental data was validated using analytical models. Though both bulk adhesive degradation and interfacial degradation influences the shift in spectrum minimum, the contribution of the latter was found to be significant. An inversion algorithm was used to determine the interfacial transverse stiffness using the experimental oblique reflection spectrum. The spectrum shift was found to depend on the value of interfacial transverse stiffness using which a qualitative assessment can be made on the integrity of the joint.
TL;DR: This investigation aims to develop a circumferential phased magnetostrictive patch transducer array that can focus shear-horizontal waves at any target point on a cylindrical surface of a pipe.
Abstract: Several investigations report effective uses of magnetostrictive patch transducers to generate and measure longitudinal and torsional guided waves in a pipe. They can be used to form a phased array for the circumferential inspection of pipes. Although there are circumferential phased arrays employing piezoelectric transducers or EMAT's, no magnetostrictive patch transducer based array system has been attempted. In this investigation, we aim to develop a circumferential phased magnetostrictive patch transducer (PMPT) array that can focus shear-horizontal waves at any target point on a cylindrical surface of a pipe. For the development, a specific configuration of a PMPT array employing six magnetostrictive patch transducers is proposed. A wave simulation model is also developed to determine time delays and amplitudes of signals generated by the transducers of the array. This model should be able to predict accurately the angular profiles of shear-horizontal waves generated by the transducers. For wave focusing, the time reversal idea will be utilized. The wave focusing ability of the developed PMPT array is tested with multiple-crack detection experiments. Imaging of localized surface inspection regions is also attempted by using wave signals measured by the developed PMPT array system.
TL;DR: Two signal processing techniques are utilized for estimating the thinning rate based on ultrasonic pipe wall thickness data collected over a short period of time using a combination of cross-correlation and polynomial curve fitting and a model-based estimation (MBE) scheme.
Abstract: Monitoring pipe wall erosion/corrosion thinning rates is an important issue in petrochemical and power generation industries. In this paper, two signal processing techniques are utilized for estimating the thinning rate based on ultrasonic pipe wall thickness data collected over a short period of time. The first is a combination of cross-correlation and polynomial curve fitting and the second is a model-based estimation (MBE) scheme. These techniques are applied to data collected from an accelerated thinning rate apparatus and both show that they are capable of estimating the thinning rates quickly in short time periods with good accuracy. In laboratory applications, thinning rates as low as 10 μm/year were measured within 15 days with an uncertainty of ±1.5 μm/year by both techniques. Although the MBE technique can yield marginally better accuracy, the greater stability and computational speed of the cross-correlation technique make it the preferred choice for industrial use.
TL;DR: The reflection of obliquely incident symmetric and anti-symmetric Lamb wave modes at the edge of a plate is studied and energy reflection coefficients are calculated for the reflected wave modes as a function of frequency and angle of incidence.
Abstract: The reflection of obliquely incident symmetric and anti-symmetric Lamb wave modes at the edge of a plate is studied. Both in-plane and Shear-Horizontal (SH) reflected wave modes are spawned by an obliquely incident in-plane Lamb wave mode. Energy reflection coefficients are calculated for the reflected wave modes as a function of frequency and angle of incidence. This is done by using the method of orthogonal mode decomposition and by enforcing traction free conditions at the plate edge using the method of collocation. A PZT sensor network, affixed to an Aluminum plate, is used to experimentally verify the predictions of the analysis. Experimental results provide support for the analytically determined results.
TL;DR: Microscopic investigations of the distribution of the α- and β-phase of Ti6Al4V indicate that inhomogeneities in the phase distribution are reasons for the internal crack initiation.
Abstract: Accelerated fatigue tests with Ti6Al4V were carried out using a 20 kHz ultrasonic testing facility to investigate the cyclic deformation behavior in the Very High Cycle Fatigue (VHCF) regime in detail. Beside parameters like the ultrasonic generator power and the displacement of the specimen, a 3D laser scanning vibrometer was used to characterize the oscillation and fatigue behavior of the Ti-alloy. The course of the S – N f curve at the stress ratio R = −1 shows a significant decrease of the bearable stress amplitude and a change from surface to subsurface failures in the VHCF regime for more than 10 7 cycles. Microscopic investigations of the distribution of the α- and β-phase of Ti6Al4V indicate that inhomogeneities in the phase distribution are reasons for the internal crack initiation. High resolution vibrometry was used to visualize the eigenmode of the designed VHCF-specimen at 20 kHz in the initial state and to indicate local changes in the eigenmodes as a result of progressing fatigue damage. Non-contact strain measurements were realized and used to determine the stress amplitude. The determined stress amplitudes were correlated with strain gauge measurements and finite element analysis.
TL;DR: The proposed elastographic techniques can be used as a noninvasive quantitative characterization tool for breast cancer, with the capability of visualizing and separating the masses in a three dimensional space, and may reduce the number of unnecessary painful breast biopsies.
Abstract: The main objective of this article is to introduce a new nonlinear elastography based classification method for human breast masses. Multi-compression elastography imaging is elucidated in this study to differentiate malignant from benign lesions, based on their nonlinear mechanical behavior under compression. Three classification parameters were used and compared in this work: a new nonlinear parameter based on a power-law behavior of the strain difference between breast masses and healthy tissues, mass-soft tissue strain ratio and the mass relative volume between B-mode and elastography imaging. Using 3D elastography, these parameters were tested in vivo. A pilot study on 10 patients was performed, and results were compared with biopsy diagnosis as a gold standard. Initial elastography results showed a good agreement with biopsy outcomes. The new estimated nonlinear parameter had an average value of 0.163 ± 0.063 and 1.642 ± 0.261 for benign and malignant masses, respectively. Strain ratio values for the benign and malignant masses had an average value of 2.135 ± 0.707 and 4.21 ± 2.108, respectively. Relative mass volume was 0.848 ± 0.237 and 2.18 ± 0.522 for benign and malignant masses. In addition to the traditional normal axial strain, new strain types were used for elastography and constructed in 3D, including the first principal, maximum shear and Von Mises strains. The new strains provided an enhanced distinction of the stiff lesion from the soft tissue. In summary, the proposed elastographic techniques can be used as a noninvasive quantitative characterization tool for breast cancer, with the capability of visualizing and separating the masses in a three dimensional space. This may reduce the number of unnecessary painful breast biopsies.
TL;DR: The p38 MAPK is involved in the process of LIPUS-induced osteogenic differentiation of HPDLCs, and enhancement was significantly blocked by preincubation with 10 μmol/L SB203580.
Abstract: Objective The purpose of this study was to clarify whether p38 MAPK is involved in the process of low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) induced osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament cells (HPDLCs). Methods HPDLCs were isolated from premolars extracted for orthodontic reasons from healthy adolescences and used in the study at passage 5. They were pretreated with p38 specific inhibitor SB203580 and exposed daily to LIPUS with frequency of 1 MHz and intensity of 90 mW/cm2. Osteogenic differentiation was assayed by levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and osteocalcin as well as calcium deposition. The levels of phosphorylated p38 (p-p38) and total p38 in HPDLCs in response to LIPUS for different times were detected by Western blot. Results The enhanced ALP levels in media and cell lysate, osteocalcin level in media, as well as number of calcium nodules after LIPUS stimulation were decreased by SB203580 treatment. LIPUS stimulation did not change total p38 level, but time-dependently enhanced the level of p-p38; such enhancement was significantly blocked by preincubation with 10 μmol/L SB203580. Conclusion The p38 MAPK is involved in the process of LIPUS-induced osteogenic differentiation of HPDLCs.
TL;DR: The developed model can be used to design more sensitive pMUTs or extract the flexural piezoelectric coefficient using pieZoelectrically actuated circular plates and matched well with the experimental measurements and the error ranged from 2.7-22% due to process variations across the wafer.
Abstract: The effect of plate electrode area on the deflection of a symmetric circular bimorph piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) with clamped and simply supported boundary conditions was studied for the first time. Distinct plate displacement shape functions were defined for the regions underneath and outside the active electrodes. The plate shape functions were solved analytically using classic plate theory in conjunction with the external boundary conditions and the internal ones between the two regions in order to calculate the exact plate displacement under both external voltage stimulus and acoustic pressure. The model was used to study the effect of the electrode area on the overall plate deflection per unit input voltage such that the electromechanical coupling is optimized. While the center plate deflection increased monotonically with the electrode area for a simply supported plate, it followed a parabolic shape for a clamped one with a maximum deflection when the electrode radius covered 60% of the total plate radius. The simply supported plate exhibited four times the plate deflection capability of its clamped counterpart, when both are operating at their optimal electrode size. Both an experimental clamped bimorph aluminum nitride (AlN) pMUT, recently reported in the literature, and Finite Element Modeling (FEM) were used to verify the developed model. The theoretical model predicted a static displacement per unit voltage of 10.9nm/V and a resonant frequency of 196.5kHz, which were in excellent agreement with the FEM results of 10.32nm/V and 198.5kHz, respectively. The modeling data matched well with the experimental measurements and the error ranged from 2.7-22% due to process variations across the wafer. As such, the developed model can be used to design more sensitive pMUTs or extract the flexural piezoelectric coefficient using piezoelectrically actuated circular plates.
TL;DR: Higher order wavelets are used for analyzing the de-noising performance for TOFD signals obtained from Austenitic Stainless Steel welds and it is observed that higher orderWavelet Transform based thresholding techniques have been applied largely for de- noising of ultrasonic signals.
Abstract: Time of flight diffraction (TOFD) technique is a well-developed ultrasonic non-destructive testing (NDT) method and has been applied successfully for accurate sizing of defects in metallic materials. This technique was developed in early 1970s as a means for accurate sizing and positioning of cracks in nuclear components became very popular in the late 1990s and is today being widely used in various industries for weld inspection. One of the main advantages of TOFD is that, apart from fast technique, it provides higher probability of detection for linear defects. Since TOFD is based on diffraction of sound waves from the extremities of the defect compared to reflection from planar faces as in pulse echo and phased array, the resultant signal would be quite weak and signal to noise ratio (SNR) low. In many cases the defect signal is submerged in this noise making it difficult for detection, positioning and sizing. Several signal processing methods such as digital filtering, Split Spectrum Processing (SSP), Hilbert Transform and Correlation techniques have been developed in order to suppress unwanted noise and enhance the quality of the defect signal which can thus be used for characterization of defects and the material. Wavelet Transform based thresholding techniques have been applied largely for de-noising of ultrasonic signals. However in this paper, higher order wavelets are used for analyzing the de-noising performance for TOFD signals obtained from Austenitic Stainless Steel welds. It is observed that higher order wavelets give greater SNR improvement compared to the lower order wavelets.
TL;DR: In this paper, a specially designed delay line transducer was designed and evaluated to increase the accuracy of velocity data close to wall interfaces and solve previous problems by measuring physical properties of the ultrasonic beam and implementing a newly developed deconvolution procedure.
Abstract: Pulsed Ultrasonic Velocimetry, commonly referred to as Ultrasonic Velocity Profiling (UVP) in research and engineering applications, is both a method and a device to measure an instantaneous one-dimensional velocity profile in opaque fluids along a measurement axis by using Doppler echography. Studies have suggested that the accuracy of the measured velocity gradient close to wall interfaces need to be improved. The reason for this is due to distortion caused by cavities situated in front of ultrasonic transducers, measurement volumes overlapping wall interfaces, refraction of the ultrasonic wave as well as sound velocity variations (Doppler angle changes). In order to increase the accuracy of velocity data close to wall interfaces and solve previous problems a specially designed delay line transducer was acoustically characterised and evaluated. Velocity profiles measured using the delay line transducer, were initially distorted due to the effect of finite sample volume characteristics and propagation through the delay line material boundary layers. These negative effects were overcome by measuring physical properties of the ultrasonic beam and implementing a newly developed deconvolution procedure. Furthermore, custom velocity estimation algorithms were developed, which improved the time resolution and penetration depth of the UVP system. The optimised UVP system was evaluated and compared to standard transducers in three different straight pipes (inner diameters of 16, 22.5 and 52.8 mm). Velocity data obtained using the optimised UVP system showed significant improvement close to wall interfaces where the velocity gradients are high. The new transducer technology and signal processing techniques reduced previously mentioned problems and are now more suitable for industrial process monitoring and control.
TL;DR: It is observed that the thermal damping has stronger effect on the pressure wave than the viscous one, and that the rate of change of different energies which contribute in bubble oscillation, can result in damping of the wave as secondary effects.
Abstract: In this paper, the energy conservation approach presented by Louisnard (2010) [1] for bubbly liquid is modified by applying the Keller–Miksis Equation (KME) on the radial dynamics of cavitation bubbles. As the sound wave is damped through the liquid due to thermal, viscous and radiation effects, it cannot propagate over long distances. With the use of the Rayleigh–Plesset Equation (RPE) in the energy conservation approach, the part of the damping due to the acoustic radiation is neglected. However, it should be taken into account as noticed in the aforementioned reference. Here, it is shown that this damping is of importance especially above the Blake threshold. Furthermore, the thermal damping is calculated by a new formulation. The method is based on the effect of temperature gradient at the thermal boundary layer around the bubble surface on the gas pressure inside the bubble. Results show that the power dissipated by acoustic radiation has the same order of magnitude as the thermal one and cannot be neglected. Moreover, it is revealed that the rate of change of different energies which contribute in bubble oscillation, can result in damping of the wave as secondary effects. It is observed that the thermal damping has stronger effect on the pressure wave than the viscous one. Considering the compressibility of the liquid to the first order of the acoustical Mach number causes an increase in the thermal damping by a factor of about two to three for acoustic pressure amplitudes higher than the Blake threshold. Besides that, considering the compressibility has negligible effects on viscous damping.
TL;DR: This study experimentally demonstrates that a 2-D CMUT array can be used for practical 3-D imaging applications in air, such as a human-machine interface, and good agreement with the theoretical point spread function.
Abstract: In this paper, we present an airborne 3-D volumetric imaging system based on capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs). For this purpose we fabricated 89-kHz CMUTs where each CMUT is made of a circular single-crystal silicon plate with a radius of 1 mm and a thickness of 20 μm, which is actuated by electrostatic force through a 20-μm vacuum gap. The measured transmit sensitivity at 300-V DC bias is 14.6 Pa/V and 24.2 Pa/V, when excited by a 30-cycle burst and a continuous wave, respectively. The measured receive sensitivity at 300-V DC bias is 16.6 mV/Pa (−35.6 dB re 1 V/Pa) for a 30-cycle burst. A 26 × 26 2-D array was implemented by mechanical scanning a co-located transmitter and receiver using the classic synthetic aperture (CSA) method. The measurement of a 1.6 λ -size target at a distance of 500 mm presented a lateral resolution of 3.17° and also showed good agreement with the theoretical point spread function. The 3-D imaging of two plates at a distance of 350 mm and 400 mm was constructed to exhibit the capability of the imaging system. This study experimentally demonstrates that a 2-D CMUT array can be used for practical 3-D imaging applications in air, such as a human–machine interface.
TL;DR: Ultrasonic fatigue testing equipment is presented that is capable of performing constant amplitude (CA) and variable amplitude (VA) experiments at different constant load ratios and Resonance frequency and nonlinearity parameter β(rel) show changes of vibration properties of specimens at low fractions of their VHCF lifetime.
Abstract: Ultrasonic fatigue testing equipment is presented that is capable of performing constant amplitude (CA) and variable amplitude (VA) experiments at different constant load ratios. This equipment is used to study cyclic properties of aluminium alloy 2024-T351 in the high cycle fatigue (HCF) and very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) regime at load ratios R = −1 and R = 0.5. CA loading does not reveal a fatigue limit below 1010 cycles. Cracks leading to VHCF failure start at broken constituent particles. Specimens that survived more than 1010 cycles at R = −1 contain non-propagating cracks of lengths below grain size. Resonance frequency and nonlinearity parameter βrel show changes of vibration properties of specimens at low fractions of their VHCF lifetime. VA lifetimes are measured in the HCF and VHCF regime and compared with Miner calculations. Damage sums decrease with decreasing load (and increasing mean lifetimes) and are lower for R = 0.5 than R = −1.
TL;DR: It is anticipated that a new nanoconjugate composed of Protoporphyrin IX and gold nanoparticles can act as an efficient sonoluminescence agent and could be introduced as a novel sonosensitizer for sonodynamic therapy.
Abstract: The particles in a liquid decrease the ultrasonic intensity threshold required for cavitation onset. In this study, a new nanoconjugate composed of Protoporphyrin IX and gold nanoparticles (Au-PpIX) was used as a nucleation site for cavitation. The nonradiative relaxation time of Protoporphyrin IX in the presence of gold nanoparticles is longer than the similar time without gold nanoparticles. The acoustic cavitation activity was investigated via recording of the integrated sonoluminescence signal in the wavelength range of 220-700nm in a gel phantom by a cooled charge coupled device (CCD) at different intensities of 1MHz ultrasound. In order to confirm these results, a chemical dosimetric method was utilized, too. The recorded sonoluminescence signal in the gel phantom containing Au-PpIX was higher than the other phantoms. These records have been confirmed by the chemical dosimetric data. Therefore, we anticipate that a new nanoconjugate composed of Protoporphyrin IX and gold nanoparticles can act as an efficient sonoluminescence agent and could be introduced as a novel sonosensitizer for sonodynamic therapy.