High-frequency poly(vinylidene fluoride) copolymer transducers used for spectral characterization of settled microparticles

High-frequency ultrasonic polymer transducers are used to investigate backscattering from spherical microparticles. These microspheres are immersed in water and allowed to settle on a polymer substrate acting as an ultrasonic contact material between the immersion fluid and the transducer. The experimental study is complemented with a three-dimensional (3D) numerical investigation; both yield rather long scattered waveforms in the time domain for the largest microparticles. The corresponding frequency spectra typically contain a number of minima values arising from wave resonances in the microparticles. The locations of these resonances, or eigenvalues, correlate strongly to the particle size. Good agreement is obtained between the experiment and the numerical model, which will help to identify the wave mode responsible for the extended scattering.