Cold Sintering of PZT 2-2 Composites for High Frequency Ultrasound Transducer Arrays
Medical ultrasound and other devices that require transducer arrays are difficult to manufacture, particularly for high frequency devices (>30 MHz). To enable focusing and beam steering, it is necessary to reduce the center-to-center element spacing to half of the acoustic wavelength. Conventiona...
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MDPI AG
2021-09-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0825/10/9/235 |
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| author | Shruti Gupta Dixiong Wang Smitha Shetty Amira Meddeb Sinan Dursun Clive A. Randall Susan Trolier-McKinstry |
| author_facet | Shruti Gupta Dixiong Wang Smitha Shetty Amira Meddeb Sinan Dursun Clive A. Randall Susan Trolier-McKinstry |
| author_sort | Shruti Gupta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Medical ultrasound and other devices that require transducer arrays are difficult to manufacture, particularly for high frequency devices (>30 MHz). To enable focusing and beam steering, it is necessary to reduce the center-to-center element spacing to half of the acoustic wavelength. Conventional methodologies prevent co-sintering ceramic–polymer composites due to the low decomposition temperatures of the polymer. Moreover, for ultrasound transducer arrays exceeding 30 MHz, methods such as dice-and-fill cannot provide the dimensional tolerances required. Other techniques in which the ceramic is formed in the green state often fail to retain the required dimensions without distortion on firing the ceramic. This paper explores the use of the cold sintering process to produce dense lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics for application in high frequency transducer arrays. PZT–polymer 2-2 composites were fabricated by cold sintering tape cast PZT with Pb nitrate as a sintering aid and ZnO as the sacrificial layer. PZT beams of 35 μm width with ~5.4 μm kerfs were produced by this technique. The ZnO sacrificial layer was also found to serve as a liquid phase sintering aid that led to grain growth in adjacent PZT. This composite produced resonance frequencies of >17 MHz. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:00:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8cc925cb1278453e957abadb24af6400 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0825 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:00:12Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Actuators |
| spelling | doaj.art-8cc925cb1278453e957abadb24af64002023-11-22T11:33:15ZengMDPI AGActuators2076-08252021-09-0110923510.3390/act10090235Cold Sintering of PZT 2-2 Composites for High Frequency Ultrasound Transducer ArraysShruti Gupta0Dixiong Wang1Smitha Shetty2Amira Meddeb3Sinan Dursun4Clive A. Randall5Susan Trolier-McKinstry6Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USADepartment of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USADepartment of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USADepartment of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USADepartment of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USADepartment of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USADepartment of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USAMedical ultrasound and other devices that require transducer arrays are difficult to manufacture, particularly for high frequency devices (>30 MHz). To enable focusing and beam steering, it is necessary to reduce the center-to-center element spacing to half of the acoustic wavelength. Conventional methodologies prevent co-sintering ceramic–polymer composites due to the low decomposition temperatures of the polymer. Moreover, for ultrasound transducer arrays exceeding 30 MHz, methods such as dice-and-fill cannot provide the dimensional tolerances required. Other techniques in which the ceramic is formed in the green state often fail to retain the required dimensions without distortion on firing the ceramic. This paper explores the use of the cold sintering process to produce dense lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics for application in high frequency transducer arrays. PZT–polymer 2-2 composites were fabricated by cold sintering tape cast PZT with Pb nitrate as a sintering aid and ZnO as the sacrificial layer. PZT beams of 35 μm width with ~5.4 μm kerfs were produced by this technique. The ZnO sacrificial layer was also found to serve as a liquid phase sintering aid that led to grain growth in adjacent PZT. This composite produced resonance frequencies of >17 MHz.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0825/10/9/235cold sintering processpiezoelectricsultrasound transducers |
| spellingShingle | Shruti Gupta Dixiong Wang Smitha Shetty Amira Meddeb Sinan Dursun Clive A. Randall Susan Trolier-McKinstry Cold Sintering of PZT 2-2 Composites for High Frequency Ultrasound Transducer Arrays Actuators cold sintering process piezoelectrics ultrasound transducers |
| title | Cold Sintering of PZT 2-2 Composites for High Frequency Ultrasound Transducer Arrays |
| title_full | Cold Sintering of PZT 2-2 Composites for High Frequency Ultrasound Transducer Arrays |
| title_fullStr | Cold Sintering of PZT 2-2 Composites for High Frequency Ultrasound Transducer Arrays |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cold Sintering of PZT 2-2 Composites for High Frequency Ultrasound Transducer Arrays |
| title_short | Cold Sintering of PZT 2-2 Composites for High Frequency Ultrasound Transducer Arrays |
| title_sort | cold sintering of pzt 2 2 composites for high frequency ultrasound transducer arrays |
| topic | cold sintering process piezoelectrics ultrasound transducers |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0825/10/9/235 |
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