Length mode piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer for inspection of solid objects

Claim 1

A transducer for producing an ultrasonic inspection signal and for receiving an echo of such signal in a solid object having low acoustic impedance, comprising: an array of individual piezoelectric transducer elements each having a first length dimension and two end faces extending transversely to the length dimension, one end face of each element being positioned in a common surface, said end faces each having linear dimensions which are small in relation to said first dimension of the respective element so that each element has a dominating mode in the direction of the length dimension, said elements being spaced apart and positioned parallel to each other to form said array; a thin, flexible sheet bound to said one end face of each of said transducer elements in said common surface for providing mechanical interconnection of said transducer elements within coupling them together for any transmission of oscillatory energy from one of the elements to any of the other ones, said sheet providing a transducer aperature for placing directly against the solid object; and means for mechanically damping each of said transducer elements, said mechanical damping means being positioned between said transducer elements but not across said transducer aperature, whereby a low frequency signal can be launched deeply into a solid object having low acoustic impedance and ringing of the transducer dampened so that a returning signal can be detected.