Experimental Study of Acoustic Properties of (0-3) Composite Materials for Intermediate Layer or Backing of Ultrasonic Transducers

The acoustic properties of composite materials used for an intermediate layer or backing of an ultrasonic transducer are studied experimentally. (0-3) composite materials are formed from a mixture of epoxy resin and tungsten powder for various weight ratios and their acoustic properties are measured. The experimental results are compared with the results predicted by different models, which are based on the elastic-wave scattering theory, to verify if the measured acoustic properties agree with theoretical estimations. For the ultrasonic velocities, the estimations of the Devaney model were closest to the experimental results. The weight fractions of tungsten powder for the composite materials, which have objective acoustic properties, can easily be estimated by theoretical calculations using the Devaney model.