7.

2 The Piezo-electric Plate as Transmitter 127

To produce sound in the audible range with thickness oscillations in a barium-

titanate plate, a thickness of 200 mm would be needed, but using thickness of a few
millimetres we attain the frequency range of ultrasound needed for testing materi-
als.
Figure 7.7 explains the formation of higher characteristic oscillations, the so-
called harmonics. Standing waves will also occur for waves of shorter wavelength,
provided they are an exact fraction of the fundamental wave. In these cases two,
three or more half-wavelengths fit into the plate thickness so that there are several
nodal plains where the particles are always at rest. The corresponding harmonic fre-
quencies are an integral multiple of the characteristic or first harmonic frequency
/0' For the odd harmonics, as well as for the fundamental, viz. at/o, 3/0 , 5/0 etc., the
particles in the two surfaces are subjected to opposing oscillations simultaneously,
so that the thickness of the plate varies in the rythm of the oscillation. In the case
of even harmonics, viz. 2/0 , 4/0 , etc., the particles oscillate simultaneously but in

20
0=15.8 8·0.063
IS (air/quarz/waler)

10

"
,b=I.75 0=5.5 8·0.18
5 (vulcanized rubber/quartz/
waler)

.--
/
/
b
/
b
I
0=0.1.8 I 0·2.08
b= 730 (nearly aperiodic) (vulcanized rubber/quarlz/aluminium)

t
I
-----------~-------
I I

t
I
...
"J
I

...
"J I
I

I
0 0.5 1.0 MHz 1.5
fr =IMHz
c c f-

Fig. 7.8. Decay of oscillation of a thickness oscillator for different damping coefficients b
(oscillator as in Fig. 7.9)
Fig. 7.9. Resonance curves of forced oscillations of a thickness oscillator as in Fig. 7.8
(Qualities, Q = a 15.8; b 5.5; c 0.48)