Wide-bandwidth immersion ultrasound transducer made of Mn:PIMNT single crystal/epoxy 1–3 composite

The sensitivity and bandwidth of immersion ultrasound transducer directly determine the echo signal intensity and axial resolution of the immersion ultrasonic testing (IUT) equipment. The active piezoelectric material, which is the core part of the transducer, usually operates in a thickness-stretching vibrational mode. Hence, it is necessary for piezoelectric materials to possess high piezoelectric performance. In this work, a relaxor-based ferroelectric Mn:PIMNT single crystal with excellent electromechanical performance (d33=1220 pC/N, g33=37.87×10−3 Vm/N, and k33=90%) was used to fabricate a crystal/epoxy 1–3 composite transducer. The crystal-based transducer has a center frequency of 3 MHz. The −6 dB bandwidth is 111.4%, and the insertion loss is −25.2 dB, which are much better than PZT-5 H 1–3 composite transducer (74.5% and −32.9 dB). Additionally, the imaging test reveals that the 1–3 composite transducer made of Mn:PIMNT single crystal exhibits better axial resolution, which shows a good application prospect in the field of ultrasonic nondestructive testing. [Display omitted] •The Mn:PIMNT single crystal possesses both large d33 (1200 pC/N) and high g33 (37.87×10−3 Vm/N).•A Mn:PIMNT single crystal/epoxy 1–3 composite ultrasonic transducer with 3 MHz center frequency was fabricated.•The −6 dB bandwidth can reach 111.4%, and the insertion loss is −25.2 dB.