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In vivo ultrasound imaging with phased array transducers is of great importance for both clinical application and biomedical research. In this work, relaxor ferroelectric PMN-0.28PT single crystal with very high piezoelectric constant d 33  ≥ 2000 pC/N and electromechanical coupling coefficient k 33  ∼ 0.92 is used to fabricate high-frequency phased array transducers. A 128-element 20-MHz phased array transducer is successfully fabricated, and the optimized performance of -6 dB average bandwidth of ∼ 84 % and insertion loss of -43 dB are achieved. The axial and lateral imaging resolutions of the transducer are determined to be 81 µm and 243 µm, respectively. With Verasonics image platform, in vivo fisheye images are acquired, demonstrating the potential application of our developed high-frequency phased array transducer for biomedical research on small animals., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

High-frequency focused intravascular ultrasonic probes were fabricated in this study using dimple technique based on PMN-PT single crystal and lead-free KNN-KBT-Mn ceramic. The center frequency, bandwidth, and insertion loss of the PMN-PT transducer were 34 MHz, 75%, and 22.9 dB, respectively. For the lead-free probe, the center frequency, bandwidth, and insertion loss were found to be 40 MHz, 72%, and 28.8 dB, respectively. The ultrasonic images of wire phantom and vessels with good resolution were obtained to evaluate the transducer performance. The -6 dB axial and lateral resolutions of the PMN-PT probe were determined to be 58 μm and 131 μm, respectively. For the lead-free probe, the axial and lateral resolutions were found to be 44 μm and 125 μm, respectively. These results suggest that the mechanical dimpling technique has good potential in preparing focused transducers for intravascular ultrasound applications., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This paper describes the fabrication and evaluation of a high-frequency (40MHz) transducer based on lead-free piezoceramics for ultrasonic imaging. The transducer with an aperture size of 0.9mm has been fabricated using barium strontium zirconate titanate ((Ba(0.95)Sr(0.05))(Zr(0.05)Ti(0.95))O(3), abbreviated as BSZT) ceramics. The lead-free BSZT has a piezoelectric d(33) coefficient of 300 pC/N and an electromechanical coupling factor k(t) of 0.45. High-frequency ultrasound transducers were fabricated and a bandwidth of 76.4% has been achieved with an insertion loss of -26dB. Applications in high resolution biological and medical imaging could be possible with this lead-free material., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The design, fabrication, and evaluation of a high-frequency transducer made from lead-free piezoceramic for the application of microfluidic analysis is described. Barium strontium zirconate titanate [(Ba(0.95)Sr(0.05))(Zr(0.05)Ti(0.95))O(3), abbreviated as BSZT] ceramic has been chosen to be the active element of the transducer. The center frequency and bandwidth of this high-frequency ultrasound transducer have been measured to be 43 MHz and 56.1%, respectively. The transducer was integrated into a microfluidic channel and used to measure the sound velocity and attenuation of the liquid flowing in the channel. Results suggest that lead-free high-frequency transducers could be used for in situ analysis of property of the fluid flowing through the microfluidic system.

A 2.4mmdiameter piezoelectric ceramic disc was used to construct a spring-loaded pin-type transducer for intelligent monitoring of systems. Two types of lead-free KNN-based ceramics (0.95K0.5Na0.5 (Nb0.94Sb0.06)O3 - 0.05LiTaO3 + 1.25 mol% BaO and K0.5Na0.5NbO3 - 0.75 mol% K5.4Cu1.3Ta10O29) were selected as a sensing element of the pin. The piezoelectric spring-loaded pins were mounted on the corners of the aluminum plate for the performance evaluation using a laser ultrasonic technique. The signals detected by transducers with different sensing elements including lead-based ceramics have been compared. The capability of impact detection of the lead-free transducers was shown to be comparable to that of the lead-based one. It is envisaged that lead-free piezoelectrics will become the important transducer materials in the next generation nondestructive evaluation technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a stepped horn transducer based on lead-free piezoelectric ceramics. A two-step titanium horn has been bonded to a Ba0.95Ti0.95Sr0.05Zr0.05O3 (BSZT) lead-free piezoelectric ceramic disk. The stepped horn is a promising candidate for transducer design mainly due to its efficacious mechanical amplification. The strontium and zirconium doped barium titanate has been prepared in disk-shape and poled in a thickness direction. When an AC voltage is applied to the electrodes of the driving disk, the lead-free piezoceramic disk produces radial ultrasonic contractions and expansions. The stepped horn transforms and amplifies the radial deformation into an axial vibration of the horn tip. At resonance, the deformation of the horn is significantly enhanced, the axial displacement of the horn tip has been measured near the resonance frequency and compared to that produced by a PZT driven transducer. Finite element modeling has been conducted to determine the vibration mode and resonance frequency of the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high sensitivity piezoelectric accelerometer has been developed by replacing the conventional piezoelectric rings with a cymbal transducer. The sensitivity of the cymbal-based accelerometers containing cymbal transducers with different endcap thicknesses and different seismic masses has been measured as a function of driving frequency. Due to the high d33′ coefficient of the cymbal transducers, the cymbal-based accelerometers have a high sensitivity of ∼97 pC/ms-2 with the amplitude rise of 2.85% (<1 dB) at one-third of the mounted resonance frequency (3.38 kHz). The effect of the seismic mass, the resonance frequency, and d33′ coefficient of the cymbal transducers on the sensitivity and the frequency range of the cymbal-based accelerometers are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]