Acoustic spectrometer

1,049,950. Measuring physical properties of materials. J. V. FITZGERALD. May 15, 1964 [May 17, 1963], No. 20471/64. Heading H4D. Relates to apparatus for automatically recording variations in the acoustic absorption, mechanical Q factor, resonant frequency, modulus of elasticity or other parameters of a vibrated solid material with variation in environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, magnetic or nuclear flux. In a specific embodiment, a test specimen is mounted on supports 10, 11 in a heat-insulating enclosure 12 and is vibrated by a transducer 13 driven by an oscillator-amplifier V 1 . Vibrations in the specimen are detected by a transducer 14 whose output is fed through an amplifier V 3 to the Y-input of a graph-plotter RK and also to a monitoring system comprising an oscilloscope OS and voltmeter VM. The frequency of oscillator V 1 is varied cyclically by a motor M driving variable capacitors C 1 -C 4 in an oscillator frequency-control network N 1 . A rheostat R 41 may be driven in synchronism with the capacitors C 1 -C 4 and co-operate with a voltage source E r to provide a signal which is an analogue of the oscillator frequency and which is fed to the X-input of the graph-plotter RK. The resonant frequency and Q factor of the specimen are calculated from measurements made on the resonance peaks occurring in . a vibration-amplitude/frequency plot. By means of a heat source such as a lamp 20, a variable thermostat 22, and a motor-driven heat-control switching arrangement 21, 24, the enclosure 12 may be taken through a controlled temperature cycle. A thermocouple 30, indicating the temperature of the specimen, provides an alternative X-input signal for the graph-plotter RK, enabling a plot of resonant vibration-amplitude against temperature to be made. A motor-driven switch 34 permits multiplexing of the two X-input signals so that frequency and temperature plots may be superimposed (Figs. 3 and 5, not shown). The oscilloscope OS may be switched to monitor signals from the oscillator V 1 and the transducer 14 and to measure the phase angle between them. After correction for external phase shifts, this phase angle or loss angle provides a measure of the Q factor of the specimen. For manual operation, the alternative X-inputs to the graph-plotter RK are switched by a switch 351, the capacitors C 1 -C 4 are varied manually, and the oscillator frequency is read from an indicator I 1 . Variation of the performance of the transducers 13 and 14 wit