Carbon-fiber composite materials for medical transducers

Abstract

A composite, consisting of two or more materials, was developed, wherein optimum acoustic properties were obtained by the judicious choice of its constituents. Specifically, unidirectional carbon-fiber composite materials have a high acoustic impedance and a light weight. Therefore, it is possible to formulate a composite with broad-range acoustic impedance. By the approach described in this chapter, the applications utilizing such carbon-fiber composite in medical transducers are possible. In what follows, the acoustic properties of the carbon-fiber composite materials are presented and a method of fabricating the composite materials to form backing layers will be elaborated on. The characteristics of a prototype transducer, which uses this new composite, will be discussed. © 2008 Springer-Verlag US.