• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.501-508
• /
• 2007

This paper presents the feasibility of using electromechanical impedance based active sensing technique for nondestructive strength gain monitoring of early-age concrete by employing piezoelectric lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) patches on concrete surface. The strength development of early age concrete is actively monitored by performing a series of experiments on concrete specimens under moist curing condition. The electrical admittance signatures are acquired for five different curing ages and compared with each other. The resonant frequency shifts of PZT patches with increasing days is observed which is on account of additional stiffening due to strength gain of concrete during curing and level of stiffening being related to strength obtained from compression tests on companion cylinder specimens. The proposed approach is found to be suitable for monitoring the development of compressive strength in early-age concrete. It is also observed in this study that root mean square deviation (RMSD) in admittance signatures of the PZT patches can also be used as an indicator of concrete strength development.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
• /
• 2004.04a
• /
• pp.373-380
• /
• 2004

This paper presents the feasibility of an impedance-based damage detection technique using piezoelectric (PZT) transducers for civil infrastructures such as steel bridges. The impedance-based damage detection method is based on monitoring the changes in the electrical impedance. Those changes in the electrical impedance are due to the electro-mechanical coupling property of the piezoelectric material and structure. An effective integrated structural health monitoring system must include a statistical process of damage detection that is automated and real time assessment of damage in the structure. Once measured, damage sensitive features from this impedance change can be statistically quantified for various damage cases. The results of the experimental study on three kinds of structural members show that cracks or loosened bolts/nuts near the PZT sensors may be effectively detected by monitoring the shifts of the resonant frequencies. The root mean square (RMS) deviations of impedance functions between before and after damages were also considered as a damage indicator. The subsequent statistical methods using the impedance signature of the PZT sensors were investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.290-291
• /
• 2007

In this study, in order to develop low temperature sintering ceramics for multilayer piezoelectric actuator, sensers, transducers, PMN-PNN-PZT ceramics were manufacrtured with the sintering temperature, and their piezoelectric and dielectric properties were investigated. At the composition ceramics sintered at $900^{\circ}C$, desity, dielectric constant$({\varepsilon}_r)$, electromechanical coupling factor(kp), piezoelectric constant$(d_{33})$ and mechanical quality factor(Qm) showed the optimal value of $7.86g/cm^3$, 1417, 0.634, 410pC/N and 1138, respectively.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
• /
• v.2 no.4
• /
• pp.319-338
• /
• 2015

The electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) technique makes use of surface-bonded lead zirconate titanate (PZT) patches as impedance transducers measuring impedance variations monitored on host structural components. The present experimental work further evaluate an alternative to the conventional EMI technique which performs measurements of the variations in the output voltage of PZT transducers rather than computing electromechanical impedance (or admittance) itself. This paper further evaluates a variant of the EMI approach presented in a previous work of the present authors, suitable, for low-cost concrete structures monitoring applications making use of a credit card-sized Raspberry Pi single board computer as core hardware unit. This monitoring approach is also deployed by introducing a new damage identification index based on the ratio between the area of the 2-D error ellipse of specific probability of EMI-based measurements containment over that of the 2-D error circle of equivalent probability. Experimental results of damages occurring in concrete cubic and beam specimens are investigated under increasing loading conditions. Results illustrate that the proposed technique is an efficient approach for identification and early detection of damage in concrete structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.419-425
• /
• 2010

To machine the micro hole, laser machining system is widely used, however, the system cannot fabricate the micro hole with high aspect ratio and good surface finish. To break the obstacles, the high frequency vibration mechanism with PZT (Piezoelectric Transducers) is proposed in this paper. The mechanism will vibrate the laser beam in vertical direction so that the aspect ratio and surface finish may be higher than the conventional. The mechanism vibrates the eyepiece of laser optics. In addition to the benefits, the mechanism enables us to have high precision and flexibility. It decreases burr and debris during machining. And it is able to machine various materials of workpiece. This research include high frequency and large travel range of the proposed mechanism. The PZT motion of mechanism and analysis on the sensitivity of design parameters are extracted from a finite element method (FEM) simulation. In the analysis, the target vibration mode without parasitic motion is designated to have the target frequency and high amplitude.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.16-23
• /
• 2005

The objective of this study was to construct multi-element ultrasound applicators for the treatment of gynecologic cancer with high dose rate brachytherapy. For the treatment of uterus, piezo-ceramic crystal transducer (PZT -5A) with outer diameter of 4 mm, wall thickness of 1.3 mm, and length of 24.5 mm was selected. For the treatment of cervix or vagina, it should be possible to insert the applicator into the vagina. Thus, a cylindrical PZT -8 material with outer diameter of 24.5 mm, wall thickness of 1.3 mm, and length of 15.2 mm was selected. The operating frequencies determined by vector impedance measurement were 3.2 MHz for the PZT 5A cylinder (OD=4 mm) and 1.7 MHz for the PZT -8 cylinder (OD: 24.5 mm). The ratios of generated acoustic output power to applied electric power were 33% and 61% for the tandem type crystal and the cylinder type crystal, respectively. The radiated acoustic pressure fields from both transducers were calculated using a Matlab code and measured in water using hydrophone. There was good agreement between measured and calculated acoustic pressure field distribution. For a tandem type transducer, the calculated acoustic pressure field decreased from 0.023 MPa at 10 mm to 0.010 Mpa at 30 mm, the reduction of 57%. For the cylinder type transducer which will be used for the treatment of vagina showed 78% reduction at 15 mm and 66% at 25 mm as compared to values at 5 mm from the surface. Based on the characteristics of the transducers, this study demonstrated the possibility of using the crystals as a heating source. Finally, a 3-element and 4-element prototype applicators were constructed. The 3-element applicator is 75 mm long and 4 mm thick and will be used for the treatment of uterus. The 4-element applicator is 61 mm long and 24.5 mm thick and will be used for the treatment of vagina. Using these applicators, it is possible to generate enough power to increase temperature to therapeutic level.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.31-39
• /
• 1999

A good atomization in uniform size brings the elevation of thermal efficiency in spray combustion, the beautiful painting on surfaces, and the economical sprinkling of chemicals. Ultrasonic atomization has been expected as a good uniform atomization mechanism due to its uniform size distribution. Influx, load, and physical properties of liquids are the effecting factors to atomize liquids. In this study, distilled water and city water are selected as reference liquids and gasoline, kerosene, and petroleum as fuel liquids. Characteristics and affinity to get the maximum effect for the ultrasonic atomization are observed by using the two ultrasonic transducers with 28kHz and 2MHz. Results show that the size distributions of liquid spray dorplet by the direct vibration method prevail over those by the aerosol method in uniform droplet size and as a whole, sizes of spray liquid droplets are increased slightly according to increasing influx in the direct vibration method and quantities of spray droplets in the aerosol method decreasing according to increasing liquid load h.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.69-76
• /
• 1989

Piezoelectric elements, backing and shoe material are the important components of the ultrasonic transducer. In this study, characteristic constants in the domestic and the foreign PZT ceramic elements are investigated, The acoustic properties of the domestic and the foreign backing and shoes are characterized. The effects of components characteristics, the kinds of the piezoelectric elements and the thickness of the wear plates are investigated for the manufactured normal beam ultrasonic transducers.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.28 no.12
• /
• pp.1347-1352
• /
• 2011

Recently, as the aged population grows around the world, many medical instruments, devices, and their fabrication processes are developing. Among the devices, a drug delivery stent is a good example for precision machining. Conventional drug delivery stent has problem of the remaining polymer because the drug is coated on the surface with it. If the drug is impregnated into the micro hole array on the stent surface, the polymer can be perfectly eliminated. Micro sized holes are generally fabricated by laser machining however, the fabricated holes do not have an enough aspect ratio to contain the drug or a good surface finish to deliver the stend to blood vessel tissue. To overcome these problems, we propose a vibration-assisted machining mechanism with PZT (Piezoelectric Transducers) for abrication of micro sized holes better. The results indicated that the burr size can be significantly decreased with vibration assisted in nanosecond pulse laser drilling test.

• Laser Solutions
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.8-12
• /
• 2011

As the aged population grows around the world, many medical instruments and devices have been developed recently. Among the devices, a drug delivery stent is a medical device which requires precision machining. Conventional drug delivery stent has problems of residual polymer and decoating because the drug is coated on the surface of stent with the polymer. If the drug is impregnated in micro hole array on the surface of the stent, the problem can be solved. Micro sized holes are generally fabricated by laser machining; however, the fabricated holes do not have an enough aspect ratio to contain the drug or a good surface finish to deliver it to blood vessel tissue. To overcome these problems, we propose a vibration-assisted machining mechanism with PZT (Piezoelectric Transducers) for the fabrication of micro sized holes. If the mechanism vibrates the eyepiece of the laser machining head, the laser spot on the workpiece will vibrate vertically because objective lens in the eyepiece shakes by the mechanism's vibration. According to the former researches, the vibrating frequency over 20kHz and amplitude over 500nm are preferable. The vibration mechanism has cylindrical guide, hollowed PZT and supports. In the cylinder, the eyepiece is mounted. The cylindrical guide has upper and low plates and side wall. The shape of plates and side wall are designed to have high resonating frequency and large amplitude of motion. The PZT also is selected to have high actuating force and high speed of motion. The support has symmetrical and rigid characteristics.