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Ultrasonic Transducers for High Temperature Applications
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Ultrasonic Transducers for High Temperature Applications

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2021) | Viewed by 16999

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Tittmann

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Engineering Nanostructure-Characterization Center, The Pennsylvania State University, 212 Earth and Engineering Science Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Interests: materials science and characterization; nondestructive evaluation techniques and applications; scanning acoustic microscopy/spectroscopy; ultrasonic characterization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleague,

Ultrasonic transducers play a key role in a number of strategically important fields in health monitoring and nondestructive testing. Applications that use ultrasonic transducers include the medical, aerospace, railroad, marine, and energy-related industries. The heart of an ultrasonic transducer is the piezoelectric element. Transducers currently used in these industries primarily employ PZT5-H as the piezoelectric element for ultrasound transmission and detection. This material has a Curie–Weiss temperature that limits its use to about 210 °C. Some industrial applications require much higher temperatures, i.e., 350–1000 °C. Examples are heat engines, steam generators, heat exchangers, steam pipes, deep geological exploration, nuclear reactors, etc.

The goal of this issue is to survey and review piezoelectric elements for use in high-temperature environments for the ultimate purpose of structural health monitoring (SHM), non-destructive evaluation (NDE), and material characterization (NDMC). The survey comprises the following categories:

  1. High-temperature applications with single crystals;
  2. Thick-film ceramics, and composite ceramics;
  3. Sol–gel and spray-on transducers.

In the latter category, recent breakthroughs in the doping of certain ceramics have produced exciting new piezoelectric composites having substantial increases in the Curie temperatures.

In each category, the known characteristics are listed, and examples are given of performance in harsh environments.

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Tittmann
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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31 pages, 3659 KiB  
Review
High Temperature Ultrasonic Transducers: A Review
by Rymantas Kazys and Vaida Vaskeliene
Sensors 2021, 21(9), 3200; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21093200 - 5 May 2021
Cited by 91 | Viewed by 13298
Abstract
There are many fields such as online monitoring of manufacturing processes, non-destructive testing in nuclear plants, or corrosion rate monitoring techniques of steel pipes in which measurements must be performed at elevated temperatures. For that high temperature ultrasonic transducers are necessary. In the [...] Read more.
There are many fields such as online monitoring of manufacturing processes, non-destructive testing in nuclear plants, or corrosion rate monitoring techniques of steel pipes in which measurements must be performed at elevated temperatures. For that high temperature ultrasonic transducers are necessary. In the presented paper, a literature review on the main types of such transducers, piezoelectric materials, backings, and the bonding techniques of transducers elements suitable for high temperatures, is presented. In this review, the main focus is on ultrasonic transducers with piezoelectric elements suitable for operation at temperatures higher than of the most commercially available transducers, i.e., 150 °C. The main types of the ultrasonic transducers that are discussed are the transducers with thin protectors, which may serve as matching layers, transducers with high temperature delay lines, wedges, and waveguide type transducers. The piezoelectric materials suitable for high temperature applications such as aluminum nitride, lithium niobate, gallium orthophosphate, bismuth titanate, oxyborate crystals, lead metaniobate, and other piezoceramics are analyzed. Bonding techniques used for joining of the transducer elements such as joining with glue, soldering, brazing, dry contact, and diffusion bonding are discussed. Special attention is paid to efficient diffusion and thermo-sonic diffusion bonding techniques. Various types of backings necessary for improving a bandwidth and to obtain a short pulse response are described. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrasonic Transducers for High Temperature Applications)
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15 pages, 5626 KiB  
Perspective
Use of the Ferroelectric Ceramic Bismuth Titanate as an Ultrasonic Transducer for High Temperatures and Nuclear Radiation
by Brian T. Reinhardt and Bernhard R. Tittmann
Sensors 2021, 21(18), 6094; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21186094 - 11 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2474
Abstract
Ultrasonic transducers are often used in the nuclear industry as sensors to monitor the health and process status of systems or the components. Some of the after-effects of the Fukushima Daiichi earthquake could have been eased if sensors had been in place inside [...] Read more.
Ultrasonic transducers are often used in the nuclear industry as sensors to monitor the health and process status of systems or the components. Some of the after-effects of the Fukushima Daiichi earthquake could have been eased if sensors had been in place inside the four reactors and sensed the overheating causing meltdown and steam explosions. The key element of ultrasonic sensors is the piezoelectric wafer, which is usually derived from lead-zirconate-titanate (Pb(Zr, Ti)O3, PZT). This material loses its piezoelectrical properties at a temperature of about 200 °C. It also undergoes nuclear transmutation. Bismuth titanate (Bi4Ti3O12, BiTi) has been considered as a potential candidate for replacing PZT at the middle of this temperature range, with many possible applications, since it has a Curie–Weiss temperature of about 650 °C. The aim of this article is to describe experimental details for operation in gamma and nuclear radiation concomitant with elevated temperatures and details of the performance of a BiTi sensor during and after irradiation testing. In these experiments, bismuth titanate has been demonstrated to operate up to a fast neutron fluence of 5 × 1020 n/cm2 and gamma radiation of 7.23 × 1021 (gamma/cm2). The results offer a perspective on the state-of the-art for a possible sensor for harsh environments of high temperature, Gamma radiation, and nuclear fluence. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrasonic Transducers for High Temperature Applications)
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