中國機械工程學刊第三十七卷第三期第 193~200 頁(民國一百零五年)
Journal of the Chinese Society of Mechanical Engineers, Vol.37, No.3, pp193~200(2016)
Finite Element Analysis of an Ultrasonic
Vibration Device at High Temperatures
Lan Phuong Nguyen*, Yen-Pin Tsai*, Jung-Chung Hung**,
Yi-Chun Hsieh* and Chinghua Hung***
Keywords : finite element analysis, ultrasonic
vibration device, high temperature
ABSTRACT
Ultrasonic-vibration-assisted forming has been
extensively adopted in plastic manufacturing
processes. Ultrasonic vibration contributes to
enhancing material formability and product quality
and to reducing manufacturing costs by improving
frictional conditions and increasing the temperature
of materials. However, designing a suitable ultrasonic
vibration system for processes conducted at high
working temperatures, such as the ultrasonic
vibration-assisted glass hot embossing process, is
difficult because of complex thermal boundaries and
material properties.
In this study, an ultrasonic vibration system that
can be used at high working temperatures was
analyzed using the finite element method and
ANSYS commercial software. The simulation results
obtained from thermal, modal, and harmonic
response analyses were compared with experimental
measurements to confirm the validity of the
numerical analysis. The resulting finite element
module can be used in designing the components of
ultrasonic vibration devices that can be used at high
working temperatures.
INTRODUCTION
Ultrasonic vibration technology is widely
applied in industrial processes such as welding,
cutting, grinding, and forming. This technology has
recently been applied in processes performed at high
Paper Received February, 2014. Revised August, 2014, Accepted
October, 2014, Author for Correspondence: Chinghua Hung
* Graduate Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan 300, ROC.
** Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National
Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan 411, ROC.
*** Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National
Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan 300, ROC.
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temperatures, such as metal upsetting (Hung et al.,
2005) and glass hot embossing (Tsai et al., 2012;
Hung et al., 2013); however, designing ultrasonic
vibration devices remains difficult because of the
variations in material properties at high working
temperatures.
An ultrasonic vibration device consists of a
piezoelectric transducer, a booster, and a horn.
Vibration is generated in the transducer by inputting
an electrical signal by using a frequency generator. A
resonance phenomenon is usually adopted in
ultrasonic vibration devices and then harmonized
with the frequency of the electrical signals.
Inconsistencies in the resonant frequencies between
an improperly designed device and frequency
generator cause deficiencies such as low amplitude
magnification, distortion modes, and uneven
amplitude distribution. A trial-and-error method has
been used for years in both the simplified theoretical
approach and empirical equations to obtain the
desired resonant characteristics for ultrasonic
vibration devices; however, this method cannot be
used efficiently in developing devices that feature
complex geometries and are created for specific
purposes, such as application at high temperature.
These obstacles can be addressed effectively by
using finite element analysis (FEA). Seah et al. (1993)
used FEA in conducting a dynamic analysis to
determine the stress characteristics of horns after
natural frequencies were identified using a modal
analysis. In addition, FEA was used to develop a new
design profile for ultrasonic cutting horns with
maximum magnification to improve material removal
rates (Amin et al., 1995). Abdullah et al. (2008) and
Chen et al. (2008) applied FEA in designing a high-
power ultrasonic transducer by using ANSYS. A
modeled transducer was used in modal analysis and
harmonic solutions to understand mechanical
behavior and natural frequencies; the results indicated
a remarkable predictive potential. FEA can be used to
predict vibration characteristics and support the
design of ultrasonic vibration devices; however, this
method has not been applied in designing devices
used at high temperatures.
The purpose of this study was to construct a
finite element (FE) model for an ultrasonic vibration

device used at high working temperatures. First,
experiments were conducted to determine the thermal
conditions and vibration characteristics of the
ultrasonic vibration device. Second, the FE model
was verified using experimental data, including data
on the temperature distribution, resonant frequencies,
and amplitude measurements. The results indicated
that the FE model can facilitate the design of
ultrasonic vibration devices and expand the
application of the ultrasonic vibration technique in
high-temperature processes.
THEORY
Because the material properties of the horn
change at high temperatures, its resonant frequency
shifts and a mismatch with the frequency generator
occurs. Therefore, ultrasonic devices must be
modified to ensure that they operate correctly at high
temperatures. The speed of a wave traveling along a
one-dimensional medium can be described by the
following simplified theoretical equation:
where E and  are Young’s modulus and density,
respectively, and the wavelength is
1 Fig. 1 The ultrasonic vibration device
where f is the resonance frequency of an ultrasonic
vibration device. In a longitudinal vibration mode,
multiples of (/2) can be used as references for
setting the device length.
As the temperature of a device with a fixed
geometry increases, the resonant frequency of the
device decreases because of a decrease in Young’s
modulus (website of British Stainless Steel
Association); therefore, this frequency shifts beyond
the tracking range of a frequency generator. To
increase the resonant frequency of the device at high
temperatures, its length must be reduced. In this study,
one output end of the ultrasonic horn was designated
to work at high temperatures and the other end was
cooled to room temperature to protect the transducer
from damage. Therefore, the material properties of
the ultrasonic horn exhibited a temperature gradient
distribution between the output end and the cooled
portion. This unequal distribution caused difficulties
in reducing the device length by performing
theoretical calculation.
EXPERIMENT
The ultrasonic vibration system used in this
study was produced by King Ultrasonic Co. Ltd. (Fig.
1). The transducer contained four stacked PZT-8
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J. CSME Vol.37, No.3(2016)
piezoelectric ceramic plates, and the horn was
uniform in diameter. The output frequency of the
frequency generator was within an automatic tuning
range of 35.1 kHz to 35.5 kHz.
To create a temperature gradient in the
ultrasonic vibration device, a cooler and an infrared
heater were designed and mounted to the ultrasonic
horn. Fig. 2 illustrates the setup of the heating
experiment. The water cooler was placed at the top of
the horn, and the infrared heater was installed at the
bottom of the horn. In the water cooler, O-rings were
used to seal the cooling water between the ultrasonic
horn and the cooler. In the heater, as shown in Fig. 3,
12 infrared lamps with 150 W of electrical power
were distributed around the horn. The temperature
controller (Yokogawa, UP150) adjusted the input
electrical power of the infrared heater according to a
feedback signal from a thermocouple, which
measured the temperature at a point 5 mm above the
bottom end of the horn. An additional four
thermocouples measured temperature points at
positions 15 mm, 30 mm, 50 mm, and 90mm from
the bottom end of the horn. In addition, a network
analyzer (HP, 8751A) was connected to the
electrodes of the transducer to measure the frequency
response of the heated ultrasonic vibration device.
Resonant frequencies from this equipment were used
to calculate the damping ratios in the system. Finally,
a laser displacement sensor (Keyence, H020) was
placed below the ultrasonic horn to measure the
thermal expansion and amplitude of vibration when
the frequency generator activated the transducer. Fig.
L.P. Nguyen et al.: Finite Element Analysis of an Ultrasonic Vibration Device at High Temperatures.
4 illustrates the heating process on the ultrasonic
vibration device.
Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of heating experiment
Fig. 3 Infrared heater for heating experiment
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Fig. 4 Heating experiment on ultrasonic vibration
device
FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
In this study, ANSYS commercial software was
used to conduct FE simulations. As shown in
Fig. 5, thermal analysis was first conducted to
determine the temperature distribution in the
ultrasonic vibration device, and was then used in
conducting a structural analysis to predict the thermal
expansion. The aforementioned information was
subsequently adopted in conducting a modal analysis
and harmonic response analysis to acquire the
vibration modals, resonant frequencies, and
amplitudes of the heated system.
In the model, the screws connecting the
transducer, booster, and horn were simplified to be
solid volumes, and all components were considered
continuities at their interfaces. The thicknesses of the
electrodes between the piezoelectric ceramic plates
were neglected.
 J. CSME Vol.37, No.3(2016)

FE model

Steady state
thermal analysis

Temperature distribution

Modal analysis Harmonic response

Structure analysis

Thermal expansion Vibrational modal,

Amplitude
Resonant frequency

Fig. 5 Analysis method for FE simulations

Material properties Table 2 Thermal properties for components in

Table 1 and 2 list the mechanical and thermal ultrasonic vibration device
properties of components in the ultrasonic vibration
device. Fig. 6 shows the Young’s modulus of Thermal Thermal Specific heat
SUS304 at high temperatures. The input material conductivity expansion capacity
properties of the piezoelectric ceramics were (W/m-°C) (10-6/°C) (J/kg°C)
(Andrade et al., 2008) Transducer 237 23 897
Elastic constants:
Piezoelectric 20 2.6 –

137 69.7 0 0 0 Booster 22 8.6 523

69.7 137 0 0 0
71.6 71.6 0 0 0 200°C 15 100°C 16.3 25°C 456
0 0 33.65 0 0 400°C 17.5 200°C 17.8 90°C 490
0 0 0 31.4 0 300°C 17.2 200°C 532
Horn
0 0 0 0 31.4 400°C 17.8 320°C 557
–
500°C 17.2 430°C 574
Piezoelectric stress constants: – 540°C 586

0 0 0 0 0 10.4
0 0 0 0 10.4 0 /
4 4 13.8 0 0 0

Dielectric relative permittivity matrix:

898 0 0
0 898 0
0 0 582

Table 1 Mechanical properties for components in

ultrasonic vibration device

Young’s
Density Poison’s Fig. 6 Young’s modulus of stainless steel SUS304
modulus
(kg/m3) ratio
(GPa) (website of British Stainless Steel Association)
Transducer(A2024) 2780 69 0.33
The dielectric constant in a vacuum was 8.85 × 10-15
Piezoelectric(PZT-8) 7600 – 0.29
F/m. Because the temperature gradient
Booster(Ti64) 4430 113.8 0.342 predominantly occurred in the horn, thermal
properties at various temperatures were only
Horn(SUS304) 7900 Fig. 6 0.3
considered in the horn. To simplify,
convection and radiation were both ignored in

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L.P. Nguyen et al.: Finite Element Analysis of an Ultrasonic Vibration Device at High Temperatures.
the thermal analysis. The FE model used a
tetrahedral element, type SOLID98, and
Fig. 7 shows the meshed model of the ultrasonic
vibration device.
Fig. 7 FE model of ultrasonic vibration device
Boundary conditions
According to the practical fixture, the entire
ultrasonic vibration device was fixed at the fringe of
the booster, enabling the upper and lower surfaces of
the fringe to be set such that no displacement
occurred in the Z direction. As shown in Fig. 8, the
polarization directions of the piezoelectric ceramics
were (+Z) in the first and third pieces, and (–Z) in the
second and fourth pieces. Regarding the electrodes,
the first, third and fifth interfaces were set as ground
(0 V), and the second and fourth interfaces were set
at the maximum input voltage (900 V) of the
frequency generator.
Fig. 8 Boundary conditions on the transducer
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In a steady-state thermal analysis, five
temperatures measured during the heating experiment
were used as the boundary conditions (Fig. 9). These
values were assigned to the cross-sectional surfaces
of the horn, and the outer surface was cooled using
the water cooler, which was maintained at 25 °C.
Fig. 9 Temperature boundary of ultrasonic vibration
device
RESULTS
When operating ultrasonic vibration devices at
high temperatures, the length of the horn used at
room temperature should be modified to fit the
required wave length; therefore, horn lengths of 202
mm, 205 mm, and 209 mm were verified by
conducting experiments and simulations. The
maximum heating temperature was set at 300 °C. The
model was verified according to comparisons
between the simulation results and experimental data
regarding the temperature distribution, thermal
expansion, resonant frequency, and amplitude
measurement.
Fig. 10 shows the temperature distribution in the
ultrasonic vibration device equipped with a 209-mm
horn. Fig. 11 shows comparisons of the temperature
distribution in the horn according to the experiments
and simulations conducted at various heating
temperatures. Fig. 12 illustrates the simulation of the
displacement field of thermal expansion. Total axial
displacement at the center of the output surface is
compared in Table 3, which shows that thermal
expansion was modeled correctly. Fig. 13 shows the
longitudinal vibration mode observed when using the
209-mm horn.
 J. CSME Vol.37, No.3(2016)

Fig. 10 Temperature distribution of the ultrasonic Table 3 Axial thermal expansion at the center of output
vibration device using 209 mm horn surface in 209 mm horn (Unit: μm)

Heating
25°C 100°C 200°C 300°C
temperature
Sim. 0 106.3 249.8 399.1
Exp. 0 115±5 260±5 405±5

Fig. 11 Temperature distribution of the 209 mm horn

at different heating temperatures

Fig. 13 Displacement distribution in longitudinal

vibration modal with 209 mm horn

Fig. 12 Thermal expansion field of the ultrasonic

vibration device using 209 mm horn

Variations in the frequency responses detected

using a network analyzer are shown in Fig. 14. The
peaks revealed values of the resonant frequencies that
were then compared with simulation results obtained
from the modal analysis, as plotted in Fig. 15. The Fig. 14 Frequency response of ultrasonic vibration
values clearly indicated a significant correlation device with 209 mm horn as rising
between the experimental and simulation results. temperature
Resonant frequencies decreased as temperature
increased in the horn with a fixed length, and
frequencies increased as the horn length decreased in
the fixed temperature distribution. Thus, the trend in
frequency deviation at increased temperatures was
observed in both experiments and FE simulations.

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L.P. Nguyen et al.: Finite Element Analysis of an Ultrasonic Vibration Device at High Temperatures.

Fig. 15 Resonant frequency of the ultrasonic

vibration device with different horns and
heating temperatures horn at 25°C

Regarding harmonic response, the damping

ratios were calculated according to the bandwidths
and frequencies measured using the network analyzer.
Table 4 lists the damping ratios used in analyzing the
harmonic response by employing ANSYS. Fig. 16
shows the amplitudes at various horn lengths and
temperatures. In the simulations, the amplitudes of
the horns measuring 209 mm, 205 mm, and 202 mm Fig. 17 Measured amplitude of 209mm horn at 25°C
were approximately 5.5 μm, 4.8 μm, and 4.5 μm,
respectively. Because the automatic tuning range of
the frequency generator is the experiments was 35.10
kHz to 35.50 kHz, only amplitudes in this frequency
range could be measured. Therefore, only two sets,
209 mm at 25 °C and 205 mm at 200 °C, were
successfully tested, as shown in Fig. 17 and Fig. 18.
The experimental results corresponded with the
simulation results.

Table 4 Damping ratios in various horns and

temperatures (×10-4)

Horn Bandwidth(Hz) 25°C 100°C 200°C 300°C Fig. 18 Measured amplitude of 205mm horn at 200°C

209mm 53 7.42 7.47 7.54 7.61

DISCUSSION
205mm 60 8.33 8.39 8.46 8.54

202mm 65 8.90 8.96 9.04 9.14

Fig. 16 Amplitude of ultrasonic vibration with
different horns and heating temperatures
Instead of traditional resistance heaters, which
place constraints on ultrasonic vibration devices,
interfere during vibration, and can be damaged by the
impact of ultrasonic vibration, radiant heaters were
adopted in the heating experiments to heat the
ultrasonic vibration device without creating
additional constraints. O-rings were used to seal the
cooling water between the horn and the cooler,
causing only minor changes in the resonant frequency
of the ultrasonic vibration device. As the ultrasonic
vibration device was heated, a decrease in Young’s
modulus was the most influential change among all
changes in the properties and led to a decrease in
resonant frequency.
According to the theoretical perspective,
reducing the device length increases the resonant
frequency in the longitudinal vibration mode.
Therefore, reducing the length compensates for
decreases in the frequency caused by increases in
temperature. The aforementioned trend was verified
using FE analysis and experiments, as shown in Fig.
15.

CONCLUSION
Designing ultrasonic vibration devices is crucial
for applying the ultrasonic vibration technique at high
operation temperatures. An FE model was established
to simulate the vibration characteristics of an

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 J. CSME Vol.37, No.3(2016)

ultrasonic vibration device at high temperatures. The Lan Phuong Nguyen 蔡彥彬 謝宜均
model was verified using experiments in which the
temperature distribution, thermal expansion, resonant
洪景華
frequencies, and amplitudes were measured. The 國立交通大學機械工程學系
results indicated that the FE model can be used
efficiently to design ultrasonic vibration devices that 洪榮崇
function at high temperatures. 國立勤益科技大學機械工程學系

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