Evaluating the elastic properties of rubber is important for improving tire performance. Here, new ultrasonic techniques and results are reported for both soft rubber and real tire materials. First, on soft rubber, immersion C-Scan images revealed high attenuation and non-uniform grain size distribution. Through the application of new broadband, high power, high resolution transducers, air-coupled ultrasound succeeded in traveling through the soft rubber showing the efficiency of the new air coupled technique for imaging and evaluation of rubber materials. Secondly, sections of three tires were tested: (1) new, (2) 3 year-20,000 miles, (3) a 5 year-40,000 miles. Each tire section consists of three layers made of different rubber materials, separated by wire mesh. Because of the complexity of the tire’s structure and its high attenuation, evaluation of all three layers, but especially the middle layer, is difficult. High power tone-bursts at 1 MHz were applied to a high impedance immersion transducer. Layer reflections could be separated such that the middle layer and the wire belts at the interfaces could be interrogated. This report will detail our new techniques and provide examples for the results obtained.
Ultrasonic atomic force microscopy (U-AFM) was used to image the elastic properties of hamster kidney (BHK) cells. Force-distance curves and finite element analysis were also used in this work assist in the description of the U-AFM images. These tools helped explain the differences in contrast seen from the center to the edge of the cell. The explanation of the U-AFM image contrast will lead to more analytical tools to investigate both nonviable and viable materials. Improvement of our system for living cell (in a culture) imaging is also discussed.
The present article reports a technique to measure velocity of an organic film deposited on a homogeneous substrate, wherein the thickness of the film and the diameter of the measured area of the specimen are in the order of a few microns. A thinly sliced human kidney was selected as an example of an organic film. The thickness of the specimen was substantially 3 μm. For the substrate, fused quartz was used because its elastic properties are known and stable. The spherical acoustic lens was used to determine the position for measurement. The frequencies at 400 MHz and 600 MHz were used for the measurement and the visualization, respectively. The generation of the Rayleigh waves under the above conditions was simulated by numerical calculations based onthe wave propagation theory for layered media.
Understanding the elastic properties of the various types of rubber is important for many commercial and academic applications. A sample set consisting of generic elastomeric compounds was studied using non-destructive non-contact ultrasonic techniques. The longitudinal sound wave velocities in the sample and wave amplitude attenuation in the sample were measured using the Second Wave Inc. Non-Contact Analyzer 1000 (NCA1000). The Contact method was then used to corroborate the results obtained. The preliminary results suggest that the differences in attenuation are driven by polymer type and also to a lesser extent by the loading level of carbon black fillers.
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