A Rapid Prototyping Method for Sub-MHz Single-Element Piezoelectric Transducers by Using 3D-Printed Components

Public Deposited
Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Request Version for Screen Reader
Creator
  • Kim, Jinwook
    • Affiliation: School of Medicine, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University
  • Menichella, Bryce
    • Affiliation: School of Medicine, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University
  • Lee, Hanjoo
    • Affiliation: School of Medicine, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University
  • Dayton, Paul A.
    • Affiliation: School of Medicine, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University
  • Pinton, Gianmarco F.
    • Affiliation: School of Medicine, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University
Abstract
  • We present a rapid prototyping method for sub-megahertz single-element piezoelectric transducers by using 3D-printed components. In most of the early research phases of applying new sonication ideas, the prototyping quickness is prioritized over the final packaging quality, since the quickness of preliminary demonstration is crucial for promptly determining specific aims and feasible research approaches. We aim to develop a rapid prototyping method for functional ultrasonic transducers to overcome the current long lead time (>a few weeks). Here, we used 3D-printed external housing parts considering a single matching layer and either air backing or epoxy-composite backing (acoustic impedance > 5 MRayl). By molding a single matching layer on the top surface of a piezoceramic in a 3D-printed housing, an entire packaging time was significantly reduced (<26 h) compared to the conventional methods with grinding, stacking, and bonding. We demonstrated this prototyping method for 590-kHz single-element, rectangular-aperture transducers for moderate pressure amplitudes (mechanical index > 1) at focus with temporal pulse controllability (maximum amplitude by <5-cycle burst). We adopted an air-backing design (Type A) for efficient pressure outputs, and bandwidth improvement was tested by a tungsten-composite-backing (Type B) design. The acoustic characterization results showed that the type A prototype provided 3.3 kPa/Vpp far-field transmitting sensitivity with 25.3% fractional bandwidth whereas the type B transducer showed 2.1 kPa/Vpp transmitting sensitivity with 43.3% fractional bandwidth. As this method provided discernable quickness and cost efficiency, this detailed rapid prototyping guideline can be useful for early-phase sonication projects, such as multi-element therapeutic ultrasound array and micro/nanomedicine testing benchtop device prototyping.
Date of publication
Keyword
DOI
Identifier
Resource type
  • Article
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
License
  • Attribution 4.0 International
Journal title
  • Sensors
Journal volume
  • 23
Journal issue
  • 1
Language
  • English
Version
  • Publisher
ISSN
  • 1424-8220

Relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details sensors-23-00313.pdf 2023-01-05 Public Download