Cold ablated high frequency PMN-PT/Epoxy 1-3 composite transducer

PMN-PT has excellent piezoelectric properties, but its fragileness limits its application in high-frequency transducers. 1-3 composite materials based on PMN-PT and Epoxy can maintain excellent piezoelectric properties as well as machining capacity. However, the current process such as dicing and backfilling, tape casting, etc. has its shortcomings, such as time-consuming, insufficient precision, complex process, and so on. Therefore, in this work, a cold ablation process method is investigated to prepare the PMN-PT/Epoxy 1-3 composite, and a high frequency piezocomposite transducer is developed. The finite element method (FEM) is built to optimize the technical parameters. The 1-3 composite material is prepared using the cold laser ablation technique with ultraviolet picosecond pulse, and the corresponding transducer is fabricated. Experimental results show that the transducer has a center frequency of 52.1 MHz and a band-width of 73.3%. Its imaging resolution is superior to 25 mu m. The results verify the feasibility of the cold ablation method in fabricating PMN-PT/Epoxy 1-3 composite, which is very suitable for high-frequency ultrasound imaging. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.