Composite Materials and Measurement of Their Acoustic Properties

A composite material consists of two or more materials and its optimum acoustic properties can be designed by selecting its constituents. Unidirectional composite materials have a very low transverse Poisson's ratio of less than 0.1. By considering such composite material features, the applications of carbon fiber-epoxy and highly crystalline polyethylene fiber-polyurethane composite materials to a medical transducer array are proposed. The sound velocities and densities of the composite materials are measured and their transverse Poisson's ratios are calculated from experimental data.