The design, fabrication, and acoustic calibration of a 1-3 piezoelectric polymer composite-based two-dimensional array for UUV applications

A two-dimensional planar transducer array containing 52 1-3 piezocomposite elements was acoustically calibrated in the frequency range 10–100 kHz. The active substrate thickness was 25.3 mm giving the elements a single low-Q half-wave resonance frequency around 60 kHz. This was the only in-band resonance for this array. The construction approach described is scaleable with respect to the size and number of elements and could accommodate singly and doubly curved apertures. The injection-molded ceramic preform used in this study would allow one to realize an element center-to-center spacing of approximately 9.5 mm. Also, this construction approach would enable element apertures of arbitrary geometry (i.e., nonrectangular). This paper will present the fabrication approach, associated tooling, and measured acoustic results. It will also discuss the use of Navy Type VI piezoceramic material under high drive and high duty cycle conditions. [Work sponsored by the U.S. Navy.]