Design and construction of novel piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers
Supervisor: Steve Dixon
This is multidisciplinary project that will use a physics based approach for the novel design and
construction of new types of piezoelectric, ultrasonic transducers that could be used in areas such as
medical imaging, non-destructive testing, fluid flow measurement or a number of different
applications. The project will involve aspects of applied physics, material science and engineering,
and we expect a level of direct industrial engagement. The PhD will provide the student with the
opportunity to work on a project that gives them the opportunity to deliver real world impact, in
addition to generating novel scientific results, whilst collaborating with other researchers as part of a
wider network of academic and industrial colleagues.
Conventional design and construction of piezoelectric transducers has primarily relied on
experiences of an empirical based approach, with most transducers still being assembled by hand by
necessity. This results in transducers being relatively expensive, often with highly variable
performance. There have been some advances in areas such as finite element modelling of
piezoelectric transducers, and developments such as this have provided a stepped change in the
science behind transducer design. Because piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer design and
construction has effectively remained the same for at least the past 50 years, the techniques and
processes used to construct transducers by hand has remained largely unchanged for several
decades.
We have the opportunity to develop a new design and construction philosophy for ultrasonic
transducers, applying our understanding of the physics behind them, coupled to state of the art
manufacturing and prototyping methods to produce more reliable, more reproducible and lower
costs ultrasonic transducers for application across a broad range of applications.