Method to Extract Frequency Dependent Material Attenuation for Improved Transducer Models

The time response of the ultrasound transducers used in our 3D ultrasound tomography device shows a slight reverberation. This may causes artifacts in the reconstructed images. Loss properties of materials used in the array fabrication have a big impact on their complex vibration behavior. Unfortunately, material parameters for accurate modeling are often not available in literature. Here, we present a method to derive loss properties of polymers and composites and how to include them in a finite element analysis (FEA). The method has three steps: First, an experiment to measure the frequency and thickness dependent sound attenuation. Second, a brute-force fit to a frequency-power law expression to obtain an analytic formulation. Third, a conversion of the sound attenuation to an equivalent structural loss factor. The last step is necessary as acoustic attenuation can not directly be implemented in structural mechanics FEA. We applied the method to derive loss properties of the filler and backing material which we use for our ultrasound transducer arrays. When including the loss factor in the simulation a reverberation is predicted, which matches the measurement well. Hence, considering loss properties allows more accurate modeling of complex vibration behavior. This aids in optimizing our ultrasound transducer array design towards better 3D ultrasound imaging.