ACOUSTIC-WAVE VELOCITIES IN CERAMICS AND OTHER MATERIALS MEASURED BY A BROAD-BAND GONIOMETRIC METHOD

This article describes an economical short-pulse ultrasound system wit h a goniometer stage, with which both compression and shear wave rever berations in thin ceramic or other material samples may be separately time resolved. Arrival times of individual reverberations are compared to estimates made by computer simulation of the wave system by means of a parameter fitting routine. The system output gives compression an d shear velocities based on several reverberations in the test materia l. Wide frequency bandwidths are achieved by using acoustically thick PZT transducers in time intervals less than one half period of their f undamental compression wave frequency.