Ultrasonics最新文献

{"title":"Advanced synthetic aperture technique to enhance image quality in ultrasound elastography: A novel strategy","authors":"Arpan Ghosh,&nbsp;Arun K Thittai","doi":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107535","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107535","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quasi-static elastography (QSE) is a well-established technique used in medical imaging, where ultrasound data is collected both, before and after applying a slight compression on a tissue. This data is then analyzed to create image frames that reveal the stiffness parameter of the underlying tissue medium. Previous studies have focused on assessing how the Conventional Focused Beam (CFB) transmit method impacts the ultrasound elastography image quality. Recent studies have also shown an interest in synthetic aperture techniques like the Diverging Beam Synthetic Aperture Technique (DBSAT), due to its potential to enhance ultrasound image quality. However, its application in elastography has received limited attention. This paper introduces a new strategy of averaging low-resolution elastogram frames (LREA), obtained from DBSAT transmit method to improve the quality of elastography images. The CFB technique involves scanning the tissue line by line. In contrast, DBSAT is a synthetic aperture method that generates multiple low-resolution elastogram frames before combining them together to create a single high-quality image. In this research paper all the experimental studies were conducted on an agar-gelatin phantom, demonstrating the effectiveness of estimating elastograms from the low-resolution frame data of DBSAT transmit scheme and then summing them together to produce an elastogram with enhanced image quality. The results show a maximum improvement of 8 dB in the image quality metric of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as well as a 7 dB improvement in contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) when comparing elastography images obtained by the proposed LREA method and the elastography images obtained by regular processing of the RF data acquired using the different methods of CFB and DBSAT.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23522,"journal":{"name":"Ultrasonics","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 107535"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142795152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"SAFT imaging for high-density polyethylene using quasi-static components of ultrasonic longitudinal waves","authors":"Gonglin Wang,&nbsp;Caibin Xu,&nbsp;Quanqing Lai,&nbsp;Mingxi Deng","doi":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107534","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107534","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is extensively utilized across various industries, including nuclear power, primarily for its exceptional properties. However, there are challenges with traditional linear ultrasound imaging systems due to the significant thicknesses and the highly attenuative of HDPE. High-frequency carrier waves can offer better imaging resolution but also suffer higher acoustic attenuation, which limits the propagation distance of primary longitudinal waves (PLW) and makes it difficult to detect defects within thick HDPEs. On the other hand, using low-frequency PLW for defect detection presents challenges in resolution despite lower attenuation and longer propagation distances. This study proposes a defect imaging method for HDPEs by using quasi-static components (QSC) generated along with high-frequency fundamental wave propagation because of the nonlinear effect. The QSC has the advantage of low attenuation because its carrier frequency is zero, which can propagate a long distance in a high acoustic attention medium like HDPE. A nonlinear ultrasonic imaging approach combining the QSC and synthetic aperture focusing technique is proposed for defect imaging in HDPEs. Experiments on HDPEs with single and multiple defects are conducted to verify the performance of the proposed method. For comparison, the imaging results using traditional linear ultrasounds with high (2.5 MHz) and low (0.5 MHz) carrier frequencies are also provided. The results show the proposed method has better imaging performance over traditional linear ultrasound imaging methods for defect defections in high acoustic attention medium.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23522,"journal":{"name":"Ultrasonics","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 107534"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142792385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"In-situ monitoring of µm-sized electrochemically generated corrosion pits using Lamb waves managed by a sparse array of piezoelectric transducers","authors":"C. Nicard ,&nbsp;M. Rébillat ,&nbsp;O. Devos ,&nbsp;M. El May ,&nbsp;F. Letellier ,&nbsp;S. Dubent ,&nbsp;M. Thomachot ,&nbsp;M. Fournier ,&nbsp;P. Masse ,&nbsp;N. Mechbal","doi":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107527","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107527","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Corrosion is a major threat in the aeronautic industry, both in terms of safety and cost. Efficient, versatile, and cost affordable solutions for corrosion monitoring are thus needed. Ultrasonic Lamb Waves (LW) appear to be very efficient for corrosion monitoring and can be made cost effective and versatile if emitted and received by a sparse array of piezoelectric elements (PZT). A LW solution relying on a sparse PZT array and allowing to monitor µm-sized corrosion pit growth on stainless 316L grade steel plate is here evaluated. Experimentally, the corrosion pit size is electrochemically controlled by both the imposed electrical potential and the injection of a corrosive NaCl solution through a capillary located at the desired pit location. In parallel, the corrosion pit growth is monitored in-situ every 10 s by sending and measuring LW using a sparse array of 4 PZTs bonded to the back of the steel plate enduring corrosion. As a ground truth information, the corrosion pit volume is estimated as the dissolved volume balancing the electronic charges exchanged during corrosion. The corrosion pit radius is additionally checked post-experiment precisely with an optical measurement. Measured LW signals are then post-processed in order to compute a collection of synthetic damage indexes (DIs). After dimension reduction steps, obtained DI values correlates extremely well with the corrosion pit radius. Using a linear model relating those DI values to corrosion pit radius, it is demonstrated that corrosion pit from 30 <!--> <!-->µm to 150 <!--> <!-->µm can be reliably detected, located, and their upcoming size extrapolated. Two independent experiments were achieved in order to ensure the repeatability of the proposed approach. LW managed by a sparse PZT array thus appears to be reliable and efficient to monitor growth of µm-sized corrosion pits on 316L steel plates. If embedded in aeronautical structure, such an approach could be a versatile and cost-effective alternative to actual non-destructive maintenance procedures that are time and manpower consuming.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23522,"journal":{"name":"Ultrasonics","volume":"147 ","pages":"Article 107527"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142722391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhanced integrated acoustofluidics with printed circuit board electrodes attached to piezoelectric film coated substrate","authors":"Chao Sun ,&nbsp;Roman Mikhaylov ,&nbsp;Xiaoye Yang ,&nbsp;Xiaoyan Zhang ,&nbsp;Kungui Feng ,&nbsp;Tengfei Zheng ,&nbsp;Yong-Qing Fu ,&nbsp;Xin Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107531","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107531","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The current key issues in applying acoustofluidics in engineering lie in the inflexibility of manufacturing processes, particularly those involving modifications to piezoelectric materials and devices. This leads to inefficient prototyping and potentially high costs. To overcome these limitations, we proposed a technique that is capable of prototyping acoustofluidic devices in a straightforward manner. This is achieved by simply clamping a printed circuit board (PCB) featuring interdigital electrodes (IDEs) onto a substrate coated with a piezoelectric thin film. By applying appropriate clamping force between the PCB and the substrate, one can effectively generate surface acoustic waves (SAWs) along the surface of the substrate. This approach simplifies the prototyping process, reducing the complexity and fabrication time. The clamping mechanism allows for easy adjustment and optimization of the SAW generation, enabling fine-tuning of the fluid and particle manipulation capabilities. Furthermore, this method allows for customizable interdigital transducers (IDTs) by ‘patterning’ IDEs on thin-film piezoelectric substrates (such as ZnO/Al and ZnO/Si) with various anisotropy orientations. This facilitates the on-demand generation of wave modes, including A0 and S0 Lamb waves, Rayleigh waves, and Sezawa waves. One notable advantage of this method is its capability to rapidly test acoustic wave patterns and performance on any substrate, offering a fast and streamlined approach to assess acoustic behaviors across diverse materials, thereby paving the way for efficient exploration of novel materials in SAW technology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23522,"journal":{"name":"Ultrasonics","volume":"147 ","pages":"Article 107531"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142745896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Temperature-compensated acoustoelastic measurements of the stress in bolts","authors":"Yuqiang Han,&nbsp;Haiying Huang,&nbsp;Wenlu Cai,&nbsp;Minghai Li,&nbsp;Yongjian Mao,&nbsp;Chong Li","doi":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107532","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107532","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Temperature is an important factor influencing the results of non-destructive acoustoelastic measurements of the internal stress in objects like bolts owing to its impact on the elastic modulus of the material. However, conventional methods that seek to obtain the temperature field of the measurement object independently suffer from high complexity and low accuracy. The present work addresses this issue by developing a method that eliminates the influence of temperature on the acoustoelastic measurements of stress in bolts based on the time interval between the head and coda waves of ultrasonic signals. The origin of coda waves in rod-shaped objects is investigated theoretically, and this understanding is applied for analyzing the relationship between the temperature and internal stress of the object and the time interval between the head and coda waves of ultrasonic signals. The analysis demonstrates that the observed time interval is related to temperature and stress in accordance with a linear relationship with the velocity of the longitudinal wave and the rod diameter. Finally, the obtained relationship is applied within an acoustoelastic measurement model to eliminate the influence of temperature from the measurement results.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23522,"journal":{"name":"Ultrasonics","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 107532"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142747931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The parameter mapping of power ultrasonic transducer model","authors":"Junfan Fu,&nbsp;Bin Lin,&nbsp;Tianyi Sui,&nbsp;Baokun Dong","doi":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107533","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107533","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The vibration and electrical characteristics of transducer is determined by material coefficients and geometry, with material coefficients being susceptible to factors including frequency, pressure, and temperature, which leads to poor repeatability of transducer characteristics. Consequently, it is challenging to provide an accurate theoretical model to predict the characteristics based on the current material coefficients. To achieve a more accurate transducer model, a measurement method is proposed based on the mapping between material coefficients and transducer characteristic parameters to obtain accurate coefficients under working conditions with simple equipment and lower costs. The mapping is analyzed based on the transducer model, identifying five key coefficients. An iterative optimization method is then developed to measure these coefficients. Additionally, the genetic algorithm (GA) method is utilized for cross-checking. Transducers made from seven different materials and with varying lengths are measured, and the coefficients are obtained by both methods. With the obtained coefficients, the vibration and electrical characteristics of multi-material transducers is predicted and found to be in good agreement with the measured values, validating the transducer model and the coefficient measurement method. These coefficients are then compared with results obtained from a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) and reference values. The results demonstrate that theoretical coefficients obtained by the proposed method lead to more accurate predictions for the vibration and electrical characteristics compared to those obtained from the DMA and reference values. Furthermore, the influence of frequency on the coefficients is studied by the method. The iterative method and GA method are compared in terms of their relative errors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23522,"journal":{"name":"Ultrasonics","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 107533"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142792395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Twice reflected ultrasonic bulk wave for surface defect monitoring","authors":"Voon-Kean Wong ,&nbsp;Xiaotian Li ,&nbsp;Yasmin Mohamed Yousry ,&nbsp;Marilyne Philibert ,&nbsp;Chao Jiang ,&nbsp;David Boon Kiang Lim ,&nbsp;Percis Teena Christopher Subhodayam ,&nbsp;Zheng Fan ,&nbsp;Kui Yao","doi":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107530","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107530","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This work offers an ultrasonic structural health monitoring (SHM) approach for assessing the defects located on the same surface and at one side of piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer array. It is based on the analysis of ultrasonic bulk wave travelling in the thickness direction obtained from an enhanced full-skip configuration of the time-of-flight diffraction (TOFD) technique. In contrast to existing TOFD setup only considering the direct paths between the ultrasonic transducer and defect, our ultrasound monitoring configuration involves twice reflected ultrasonic bulk wave (TRBW). The TRBW travels following the propagation route from an ultrasonic transmitter located at the same side of the defect initiated, the backwall, the defect tip, the backwall again and finally to the same or another ultrasonic transducer. Both theoretical analyses and experimental validations have been conducted in our study. A simplified algorithm for efficient detection and mapping the growth of a surface defect in an aluminum alloy block has been demonstrated with an incremental surface defect growth starting from 2.80 mm in depth, in which conformable direct-write ultrasonic transducers (DWT) made of in-situ piezoelectric coating are implemented. Our approach provides an ultrasonic method for effective monitoring the near surface defects with the ultrasonic transducers conveniently implemented on the same surface and at the same side of the defects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23522,"journal":{"name":"Ultrasonics","volume":"147 ","pages":"Article 107530"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142722387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Numerical and experimental study of echogenicity in 3D-printed tissue-mimicking materials","authors":"Hossein Kamalinia,&nbsp;Merlin Bonnevay,&nbsp;Andrea Barbarulo,&nbsp;Elsa Vennat,&nbsp;Bing Tie","doi":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107518","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107518","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The main focus of this work is the echogenicity of a 3D-printed synthetic composite material that mimics the acoustic properties of cardiac biological tissues to provide ultrasound images similar to those obtained during interventional cardiology procedures. The 3D-printed material studied is a polymer-based composite with a matrix–inclusion microstructure, which plays a critical role in ultrasound response due to ultrasound-microstructure interaction at the involved medical echography wavelengths. Both numerical simulations and experimental observations are carried out to quantitatively establish the relationship between the 3D-printed microstructure and its ultrasonic echogenicity, considering different microstructure characteristics, namely area fraction and size of the inclusion, and its actual printed shape. A numerical evaluation based on finite element modeling is carried out to characterize the acoustic properties of the 3D-printed synthetic tissue: phase velocity, attenuation coefficient, and B-mode ultrasound images. Moreover, a morphological experimental study of the shape of the real 3D-printed inclusions is carried out. It shows a significant deviation of the final printed inclusions compared to the input spherical shape delivered to the 3D printer. By simulating and comparing numerically generated microstructures and 3D-printed real microstructures, it is shown that the actual shape of the inclusion is significant in the scattering of the ultrasonic wave and the echogenicity of the printed material.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23522,"journal":{"name":"Ultrasonics","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 107518"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142792370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of signal processing algorithms for delamination detection in composite laminates using non-contact excited Lamb waves","authors":"Lea A.C. Lecointre ,&nbsp;Ryo Higuchi ,&nbsp;Tomohiro Yokozeki ,&nbsp;Naoki Hosoya ,&nbsp;Shin-ichi Takeda","doi":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107524","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107524","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A novel Signal Processing algorithm based on the combination of a Wavelet Transform Analysis and Image Processing techniques is designed for assessing the delamination detectability of Lamb Waves generated with an innovative fully non-contact system in CFRP plates. Several Damage Indexes are extracted from the wavefields in spatial-time–frequency domain and plotted as surface cartographies to visualise their ability to size and localise artificial delaminations. Results show that the algorithm is efficient for characterising the waves propagation and that sophisticated Image comparison indexes show better ability to detect the artificial defects and to recognise healthy zones despite signal measurement and calculation uncertainties.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23522,"journal":{"name":"Ultrasonics","volume":"147 ","pages":"Article 107524"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142722390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Numerical estimation of ultrasonic phase velocity and attenuation for longitudinal and shear waves in polycrystalline materials","authors":"Vincent Dorval ,&nbsp;Nicolas Leymarie ,&nbsp;Alexandre Imperiale ,&nbsp;Edouard Demaldent ,&nbsp;Pierre-Emile Lhuillier","doi":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107517","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107517","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Finite element computations offer ways to study the behavior of ultrasonic waves in polycrystals. In particular, the simulation of plane waves propagation through small representative elementary volumes of a microstructure allows estimating velocities and scattering-induced attenuation for an effective homogeneous material. Existing works on this topic have focused mainly on longitudinal waves. The approach presented here relies on generating periodic samples of microstructures in order to accommodate both longitudinal and shear waves. After some discussion on the parametrization of the simulations and the numerical errors, results are shown for several materials. These results are compared to an established theoretical attenuation model that has been adapted to use a fully analytical expression of the two-point correlation function for the polycrystals of interest, and to use velocities corresponding to different reference media. Promising comparisons are obtained for both longitudinal and shear waves when using more representative media, obtained through Hill averaging or a self-consistent approach. This illustrates how the numerical method can assist in developing and validating analytical models for elastic wave propagation in heterogeneous media.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":23522,"journal":{"name":"Ultrasonics","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 107517"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142772659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}