Design, Fabrication, and Programming of an Acoustic Property Measuring System for Ultrasound in the MHz Range

Accurate measurement of acoustic material properties for various microfluidic devices is essential for optimal device design. In this project, a continuation of the design of a novel microfluidic channel for in situ removal of photocurable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS-a silicone), an apparatus was designed to measure the speed of sound through various liquids and solids. The apparatus was designed to hold piezoelectric transducers (pulser/receiver) and sample using the program AutoCAD™, fabricated on a three axis CNC mill, and tested by coupling input and output signals to an oscilloscope whose data was analyzed through algorithms implemented in MatLab™. The setup was calibrated and tested using the NIST standard with various glycerol and water solutions, and had an error of within 2%. Additionally, further acoustic properties such as attenuation, acoustic impedance, and material properties such as the modulus of elasticity are calculable with the same device, as well as reflection and transmission coefficients with minor modification