132 7 Piezo-electric Methods of Generation and Reception

while it borders on air at the back. In non-destructive testing this is rarely the case,
because even if continuous ultrasonic sound is used for the test it will usually be
necessary to sweep the frequency to avoid the creation of standing waves in the test
piece. In this shifting of frequency the amplitude should remain as constant as pos-
sible which, however, a narrow resonance curve does not permit. Ideal would be a
frequency curve with a partially flat region, which, however, is difficult to achieve if
one does not want to operate with very small amplitudes at frequencies far from the
resonance point. A compromise is then made and the resonance curve is broadened
as required by introducing suitable damping, resulting in the band not being com-
pletely smooth but decreasing to only 70 % of the maximum value at its limits.
An adequate band width is particularly important when transmitting short
pulses. In the echo method the length of the pulse may prevent the detection of
flaws near the surface and pulses of minimum duration are therefore desirable. At
high frequencies these pulses may still consist of a large number of oscillations.
This advantage is, however, offset by the fact that the damping of most materials in-
creases with the frequency. It is therefore necessary to generate and transmit pulses
at frequencies which are not excessively high and with a minimum number of oscil-
lations; it may even be advisable to produce completely aperiodic, i.e. socalled
shock pulses or transients.
Every pulse can be presented in sinusoidal form by a Fourier series as the sum
of a given number of partial oscillations unlimited in time and contained in a fre-
quency band of given width. Before and behind the pulse these partial oscillations
cancel each other exactly. The shorter the pulse, regardless of its shape, the broader
is the frequency band of appreciable amplitude. If some of the frequencies are sup-
pressed in the case of pulse transmission by a mechanical or electrical system, the
transmission distorts the pulse, and in particular lengthens it. The rule applies that
in order to transmit a pulse of duration T without considerable distortion, a fre-
quency band of width B = liT is sufficient even if the latter has already decreased
to 70% at both ends, as in the case of the resonance curve shown in Fig. 7.9.
A band width of 0.18 MHz shown in Fig.7.9b, therefore, could transmit with
practically no distortion a pulse of 110.18 = 5,5 IlS duration, e.g. 5 oscillations of
1 MHz frequency, each lasting IllS. If, however, one attempts to place on such a
piezo-electric plate a pulse of IllS duration, the corresponding frequency band of
1 MHz is not transmitted, and the transmitted pulse would not be shorter than 5 Ils
as already indicated by the decay process of the plate shown in Fig. 7.8 b.
If a transmission circuit contains several series-connected elements, e.g. transmitting
transducer, receiving transducer and amplifier, the above statement applies to the total trans-
mission curve which is the product of the individual transmission curves. The various ele-
ments, therefore, must match each other and it is futile to connect a wide-band transducer to
a narrow-band amplifier, and vice versa. Also, the material through which the pulse passes in
the form of a sound wave may influence the frequency band, because its damping increases
rapidly at higher frequencies.

Let us consider various types of electrical pulses and investigate how the piezo-
electric plate behaves in these cases. First, let us take an alternating voltage train
with 10 oscillations at the natural frequency of the plate (Fig. 7.12 a). At the be-
ginning and end this train suddenly disappears. However, because of its inertia