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-wavetransducers/