Normal Incidence Shear Wave Transducers
Application
This document summarizes important information for users of normal incidence shear wave
transducers such as the Panametrics-NDT V150-V157 and V220-V222 series. These transducers
are most commonly used with ultrasonic thickness gages,
flaw detectors, or pulser/receivers for measurement of
shear wave velocity in test materials, often in connection
with calculation of elastic modulus as described in this
application note: Elastic Modulus Measurement
Background
Normal incidence shear wave transducers are single element contact transducers that introduce
shear waves directly into the test piece without the use of refractive mode conversion. By
definition, these waves propagate perpendicular to the test surface while particle motion is parallel
to the surface. The transducers use piezoelectric elements cut perpendicular to the electrical poling
direction so that when pulsed they vibrate in shear (transverse) mode rather than longitudinal
(compressional) mode when an excitation voltage is applied, as seen in the concept drawing
below.
Longitudinal wave element
Shear wave element
Because of their specialized nature, shear wave transducers require attention to the factors noted
below for good response.
(a) Excitation pulse limit
Shear wave transducers should always be driven with the lowest excitation voltage possible in a
given test, preferably 100 volts. When too much power is delivered to the transducer over time, the
element can actually be re-poled to a longitudinal mode element. This effect can occur with long
term use of the 300-400v pulsing available in most ultrasonic flaw detectors. Higher frequency
elements (5 MHz and up) are most susceptible to this re-poling because they are thinner. There is
no way to reverse this effect, and when damaged this way the re-poled transducer essentially
becomes a longitudinal wave transducer.
(b) Coupling
A high viscosity shear wave couplant such as Olympus SWC (U8770277) must be used to couple
a normal incidence shear wave into the test piece. Standard ultrasonic couplants will not work,
because they are liquids or gels. A basic property of a liquid is that it does not support a shear
stress. Thus, low and medium viscosity liquids such as conventional ultrasonic couplants will not
transmit shear waves. For best results it is important to use a very thin layer of the SWC high
viscosity couplant, with firm coupling pressure. The suggested procedure is to put a very small
amount of couplant on the transducer and spread it into a thin layer with a razor blade or straight
edge, then couple onto the test piece and further wring out the couplant by rotating the transducer.
You will typically see the echo amplitude increase as the couplant layer becomes progressively
thinner.
(c) Polarization direction
The direction of polarization of the shear wave (the axis of particle movement) in Olympus shear
wave transducers is nominally in line with the right angle connector in standard RM and RB style
cases. Shear wave transducers with SB or SM connectors have a line engraved on the case
marking the polarization axis. In anisotropic materials, it is common that pulse transit time and
amplitude will vary as the transducer is rotated on the surface of the test piece, which changes the
orientation of particle movement with respect to directionally varying mechanical properties of the
material.
(d) Material attenuation
Shear wave propagation is typically good in common engineering metals and ceramics unless a
coarse grain structure is present. However shear wave attenuation is usually extremely high in
flexible materials such as rubber and soft plastics, and thus there will typically be no usable shear
wave echo even with proper couplant. Hard plastics like acrylics as well as structural composites
usually do transmit usable shear waves at low ultrasonic test frequencies, but care should be taken
with transducer selection and instrument setup.
(e) Longitudinal wave artifacts
All normal incidence shear wave elements generate some underlying longitudinal wave energy as
well. Typically this longitudinal component is at least 30 dB lower than the shear signal, however in
materials with very high shear attenuation and lower L-wave attenuation (like flexible plastics), or in
situations where non-viscous couplants are used, the shear component may be highly attenuated
while some L-wave energy remains and is seen as the primary waveform in the display. This
phenomenon can also occur when shear wave transducers have been damaged by excessively
high excitation voltages as noted in section (a) above.
For further information, please contact us.
http://www.olympus-ims.com/en/applications/normal-incidence-shear-wave-transducers/
