Ultrasound imaging is a ubiquitous part of the modern medical diagnostics toolbox. It has widespread applications to many areas of medicine, including angiology, cardiology, nephrology, urology, and obstetrics. It is often preferred over other imaging modalities, such as x-ray computed tomography (CAT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because it is non-invasive, non-ionizing, inexpensive, and has excellent penetration depth in the body. The design, optimization, and manufacturing of ultrasound transducers used in ultrasound imaging is a challenging engineering problem. Faced with a variety of different imaging environments, ultrasound transducers must often be optimized for performance in very specific applications. This is especially true for catheter-based solutions, such as intracardiac and intravascular ultrasound, where imaging performance is strongly dependent on the strength of backscatter from tissue due to significant limitations in device size, electronics, and signal-to-noise ratio. Currently, there is a need for the accurate and fast simulation of the imaging process used in ultrasound imaging, including the ability to capture the effects of backscatter from a variety of different tissues. This thesis discusses the development of simulation tools for the quantitative simulation of tissue backscatter and blood motion from acoustic fields coupled to spatial array transducers, based on an application of the Rayleigh speckle model to the linear systems model for acoustic diffraction from spatial array transducers. These simulation tools have potential applications in the field of medical ultrasonics, with particular attention to the areas of transducer design and optimization, beamforming and array processing, and image reconstruction. We demonstrate how the simulation tools developed here can be used to characterize array imaging performance and to investigate reconstruction performance of common flow algorithms for Doppler ultrasound imaging.

The second most common cause of cancer deaths in the developed world is bowel cancer. Improving the ability to detect and classify lesions as early as possible, allows treatment earlier. The work presented in this thesis is structured around the following detailed aims:Development of high frequency, broadband µUS (micro-ultrasound) imaging transducers through optimization of ultra-thinning processes for lithium niobate (LNO) and fabrication of novel ‘mass-spring’ matching layers using carefully controlled vacuum deposition is demonstrated. The effectiveness of this technique was quantified by applying multiple matching layers to 3 mm diameter 45 MHz LNO µUS transducers using carefully controlled vacuum deposition. The bandwidth of single mass-spring layer µUS transducer was measured to be 46% with an insertion loss of 21 dB. The bandwidth and insertion loss of a multiple matching layer µUS transducer was measured to be 59% and 18 dB respectively. The values were compared with an unmatched transducer which had a bandwidth and insertion loss of 28% and 34 dB respectively. All the experimentally measured values were in agreement with unidimensional acoustic model predictions. µUS tools that can detect and measure microscopic changes in precancerous tissue using a mouse small bowel model with an oncogenic mutation was developed. µUS transducer was used to test the hypothesis that the intestinal tissue morphology of WT (wild type) and ApcMin/+ (adenomatous polyposis coli) diverges with progressing age intervals (60, 90 and 120 days) of mice. A high frequency ultrasound scanning system was designed and the experiments were performed ex vivo using a focused 45 MHz, f-# = 2.85, µUS transducer. The data collected by scanning was used to compute the backscatter coefficients (BSC) and acoustic impedance (Z) of WT and ApcMin/+ mice. The 2D and 3D ultrasound images showed that µUS detects polyps < 500 µm in the scan plane. The measured values of BSC and Z showed differences between normal and precancerous tissue. The differences detected in precancerous murine intestine and human tissue using µUS were correlated with high resolution 3D optical imaging. This novel approach may provide a powerful adjunct to screening endoscopy for improved identification and monitoring, allowing earlier treatment of otherwise undetectable lesions.

Os equipamentos de imagens por ultrassom com varredura eletrônica usam transdutores que não se moldam à superfície a ser examinada, pois são rígidos. Há transdutores com curvaturas fixas para aplicações específicas. Em aplicações médicas, esse não é um problema na maioria dos casos, pois os tecidos do corpo humano tomam a forma da face do transdutor. Isso não ocorre quando há estruturas ósseas próximas às camadas externas de tecidos moles. Nas aplicações industriais as superfícies são sólidas e, portanto, não se ajustam à superfície do transdutor, sendo necessário uma camada variável de acoplamento acústico. A possibilidade de uso de um transdutor flexível exige que sua curvatura seja conhecida para o direcionamento correto do feixe acústico usado na formação de imagens. Assim sendo, um transdutor multielemento flexível apresentaria a vantagem de poder ser acoplado na superfície curva diretamente, tanto em aplicações médicas quanto industriais. Os transdutores flexíveis relatados na literatura científica não são compactos e dispõe de complicados sistemas de sensoriamento usados na determinação de curvaturas, além de demandar por sofisticados sistemas de aquisição e processamento dos sinais. Este trabalho propõe o desenvolvimento de transdutores multielementos flexíveis compactos para serem acoplados diretamente em superfícies curvas de peças mecânicas ou do corpo humano. Neste trabalho os sensores de curvatura responsáveis pela medição da curvatura foram desenvolvidos segundo os princípios básicos de extensômetria e resistência dos materiais para serem embebidos nas camadas do transdutor flexível de ultrassom. No desenvolvimento, foram fabricadas quatro versões de transdutores, com frequências de 1 e 2,25MHz. Todos os materiais usados na fabricação dos protótipos foram especificados segundo suas propriedades mecânicas e acústicas. Os protótipos fabricados foram caracterizados tendo sido medidas a largura de banda de cada elemento do transdutor, o comprimento e a duração dos pulsos, e uma medida da resolução axial. Para o protótipo de 2,25MHz, uma medida estimada da resolução lateral foi feita pela simulação do campo acústico, considerando o transdutor curvado em uma superfície cilíndrica. Para se testar o desempenho dos protótipos, foram realizados diferentes testes de formação de imagem. A versão de transdutor flexível de 1MHz e sem sensor de curvatura foi curvado sobre um cilindro e imerso em um tanque com água para a realização de testes de formação de imagem usado na detecção de objetos e obstáculos. Para as versões de transdutores médicos com sensor de curvatura, construiu-se duas versões de phantom simulando uma interface óssea cortical densa dentro de um tecido mole humano. O phantom usado para testar o protótipo de 2,25MHz foi concebido por uma amostra de tíbia bovina fraturada embebida dentro de um material com propriedades acústicas muito próximas a da água. Os testes de imagem foram realizados com o transdutor de 2,25MHz curvado sobre a superfície cilíndrica do phantom. As imagens de ultrassom das regiões fraturadas do osso foram detectadas, e uma comparação entre as técnicas de varredura setorial e STA usadas na obtenção das imagens foram feitas. Mostrou-se que é possível fabricar, de uma forma simples, transdutores multielementos flexíveis mais compactos e dotados de sensor de curvatura, e sem a necessidade de se usar tecnologias sofisticadas e caras ou de se valer de sistemas complexos de formação e processamento de sinais. As imagens obtidas pelos protótipos mostraram que os protótipos podem ser usados em diferentes aplicações NDT na indústria. Em especial, o protótipo de 2,25MHz mostrou ainda que tem potencial no uso médico para a obtenção de imagens de fraturas em contornos ósseos mais densos. / Ultrasound image equipment with electronic scanning considers that transducers cannot take the shape of the surface to be examined because they are rigid. There are transducers with fixed curvatures for specific applications. In medical applications, this is not a serious problem in most cases, since the face of the transducer can be coupled to the soft tissues of the body. This does not occur when there are bone structures close to the external layers of soft tissue. In industrial applications, the surfaces are solid and therefore do not fit to the transducer surface, where a variable layer of acoustic coupling is necessary. The possibility of using a flexible transducer requires its curvature to be known in order to the correct the direction of the acoustic beam which will be used in imaging applications. Thus, a flexible array transducer would have the advantage of being directly coupled to the curved surface in medical and in industrial applications. Flexible ultrasound transducers reported in the scientific literature are not compact, having complex sensing systems used to determine curvature; furthermore, they require sophisticated signal acquisition and processing systems. The development of flexible compact ultrasound linear array transducers to be coupled directly onto curved surfaces of mechanical parts as well of the human body is proposed here. The bend sensors responsible for measuring the curvature were developed according to the basic principles of strain gauge in extensometry and strength of materials to be embedded in the layers of the flexible ultrasound transducer. During this development, four versions of transducers were manufactured, with frequencies of 1 and 2.25MHz. All the materials used in the prototypes manufacturing were selected based on their mechanical and acoustic properties. The manufactured prototypes were characterized in terms of measured parameters, such as the bandwidth of each transducer element, the length and duration of the pulses, and a measure of axial resolution. For the 2.25MHz prototype, the value of the lateral resolution was estimated by simulating the acoustic field considering the transducer curved over a cylindrical surface. In order to test the transducer prototypes, different ultrasound imaging tests were conducted. The 1MHz flexible transducer version without curvature sensor was bent over a cylinder and immersed in a water tank for performing image formation tests used to detect objects and obstacles. For the medical transducers version with curvature sensor, two versions of phantoms were constructed simulating a dense cortical bone interface located inside the soft human tissue. The phantom applied to test the 2.25 MHz prototype consists of a fractured sample of bovine tibia which was embedded within a material having acoustic properties very close to that of the water. Ultrasound imaging tests were performed with the 2.25MHz transducer curved over the cylindrical surface of the phantom. The regions of the fractured bone were detected in the ultrasound images, and a comparison between the STA and sector scanning techniques used for obtaining the images was made. The study showed that it is possible to manufacture flexible and more compact array transducers provided with curvature sensor, without the need of using sophisticated and expensive technologies or taking advantage of complex formation and signal processing systems. The images obtained by the prototypes showed that they can be employed in different NDT applications in the industry. Particularly, the 2.25MHz prototype also showed its potential for medical imaging fractures in dense bone contours.

Os equipamentos de imagens por ultrassom com varredura eletrônica usam transdutores que não se moldam à superfície a ser examinada, pois são rígidos. Há transdutores com curvaturas fixas para aplicações específicas. Em aplicações médicas, esse não é um problema na maioria dos casos, pois os tecidos do corpo humano tomam a forma da face do transdutor. Isso não ocorre quando há estruturas ósseas próximas às camadas externas de tecidos moles. Nas aplicações industriais as superfícies são sólidas e, portanto, não se ajustam à superfície do transdutor, sendo necessário uma camada variável de acoplamento acústico. A possibilidade de uso de um transdutor flexível exige que sua curvatura seja conhecida para o direcionamento correto do feixe acústico usado na formação de imagens. Assim sendo, um transdutor multielemento flexível apresentaria a vantagem de poder ser acoplado na superfície curva diretamente, tanto em aplicações médicas quanto industriais. Os transdutores flexíveis relatados na literatura científica não são compactos e dispõe de complicados sistemas de sensoriamento usados na determinação de curvaturas, além de demandar por sofisticados sistemas de aquisição e processamento dos sinais. Este trabalho propõe o desenvolvimento de transdutores multielementos flexíveis compactos para serem acoplados diretamente em superfícies curvas de peças mecânicas ou do corpo humano. Neste trabalho os sensores de curvatura responsáveis pela medição da curvatura foram desenvolvidos segundo os princípios básicos de extensômetria e resistência dos materiais para serem embebidos nas camadas do transdutor flexível de ultrassom. No desenvolvimento, foram fabricadas quatro versões de transdutores, com frequências de 1 e 2,25MHz. Todos os materiais usados na fabricação dos protótipos foram especificados segundo suas propriedades mecânicas e acústicas. Os protótipos fabricados foram caracterizados tendo sido medidas a largura de banda de cada elemento do transdutor, o comprimento e a duração dos pulsos, e uma medida da resolução axial. Para o protótipo de 2,25MHz, uma medida estimada da resolução lateral foi feita pela simulação do campo acústico, considerando o transdutor curvado em uma superfície cilíndrica. Para se testar o desempenho dos protótipos, foram realizados diferentes testes de formação de imagem. A versão de transdutor flexível de 1MHz e sem sensor de curvatura foi curvado sobre um cilindro e imerso em um tanque com água para a realização de testes de formação de imagem usado na detecção de objetos e obstáculos. Para as versões de transdutores médicos com sensor de curvatura, construiu-se duas versões de phantom simulando uma interface óssea cortical densa dentro de um tecido mole humano. O phantom usado para testar o protótipo de 2,25MHz foi concebido por uma amostra de tíbia bovina fraturada embebida dentro de um material com propriedades acústicas muito próximas a da água. Os testes de imagem foram realizados com o transdutor de 2,25MHz curvado sobre a superfície cilíndrica do phantom. As imagens de ultrassom das regiões fraturadas do osso foram detectadas, e uma comparação entre as técnicas de varredura setorial e STA usadas na obtenção das imagens foram feitas. Mostrou-se que é possível fabricar, de uma forma simples, transdutores multielementos flexíveis mais compactos e dotados de sensor de curvatura, e sem a necessidade de se usar tecnologias sofisticadas e caras ou de se valer de sistemas complexos de formação e processamento de sinais. As imagens obtidas pelos protótipos mostraram que os protótipos podem ser usados em diferentes aplicações NDT na indústria. Em especial, o protótipo de 2,25MHz mostrou ainda que tem potencial no uso médico para a obtenção de imagens de fraturas em contornos ósseos mais densos. / Ultrasound image equipment with electronic scanning considers that transducers cannot take the shape of the surface to be examined because they are rigid. There are transducers with fixed curvatures for specific applications. In medical applications, this is not a serious problem in most cases, since the face of the transducer can be coupled to the soft tissues of the body. This does not occur when there are bone structures close to the external layers of soft tissue. In industrial applications, the surfaces are solid and therefore do not fit to the transducer surface, where a variable layer of acoustic coupling is necessary. The possibility of using a flexible transducer requires its curvature to be known in order to the correct the direction of the acoustic beam which will be used in imaging applications. Thus, a flexible array transducer would have the advantage of being directly coupled to the curved surface in medical and in industrial applications. Flexible ultrasound transducers reported in the scientific literature are not compact, having complex sensing systems used to determine curvature; furthermore, they require sophisticated signal acquisition and processing systems. The development of flexible compact ultrasound linear array transducers to be coupled directly onto curved surfaces of mechanical parts as well of the human body is proposed here. The bend sensors responsible for measuring the curvature were developed according to the basic principles of strain gauge in extensometry and strength of materials to be embedded in the layers of the flexible ultrasound transducer. During this development, four versions of transducers were manufactured, with frequencies of 1 and 2.25MHz. All the materials used in the prototypes manufacturing were selected based on their mechanical and acoustic properties. The manufactured prototypes were characterized in terms of measured parameters, such as the bandwidth of each transducer element, the length and duration of the pulses, and a measure of axial resolution. For the 2.25MHz prototype, the value of the lateral resolution was estimated by simulating the acoustic field considering the transducer curved over a cylindrical surface. In order to test the transducer prototypes, different ultrasound imaging tests were conducted. The 1MHz flexible transducer version without curvature sensor was bent over a cylinder and immersed in a water tank for performing image formation tests used to detect objects and obstacles. For the medical transducers version with curvature sensor, two versions of phantoms were constructed simulating a dense cortical bone interface located inside the soft human tissue. The phantom applied to test the 2.25 MHz prototype consists of a fractured sample of bovine tibia which was embedded within a material having acoustic properties very close to that of the water. Ultrasound imaging tests were performed with the 2.25MHz transducer curved over the cylindrical surface of the phantom. The regions of the fractured bone were detected in the ultrasound images, and a comparison between the STA and sector scanning techniques used for obtaining the images was made. The study showed that it is possible to manufacture flexible and more compact array transducers provided with curvature sensor, without the need of using sophisticated and expensive technologies or taking advantage of complex formation and signal processing systems. The images obtained by the prototypes showed that they can be employed in different NDT applications in the industry. Particularly, the 2.25MHz prototype also showed its potential for medical imaging fractures in dense bone contours.

No description available.

Low intensity and low frequency ultrasound has been shown to modulate ion channel currents, membrane capacitive currents, and as a result, neuronal activity. Ultrasound has been used as a non-invasive way to modulate neuronal activity in vivo using mice as well as human subjects. Ultrasound with acoustic frequency as low as 0.35 MHz can be focussed on a region as small as 2 mm with reversible effects and no increase in temperature. In this study, two ultrasound transducers with different resonant frequency have been used to excite neuronal cultures. The resulting changes in the network properties such as synchronised network burst frequency, density, clustering and path length have been analysed. The study shows that ultrasound stimulation at acoustic frequency 450 kHz (ISPPA =11.3 mW/cm2) significantly modulates the above mentioned parameters and causes deviations from small world network properties of the control network.

Para que um transdutor ultrassônico gere e transmita um pulso curto e receba ecos com elevada sensibilidade, além de uma camada de retaguarda que absorva as ondas emitidas para trás, é necessário que haja um bom casamento de impedância acústica entre a cerâmica piezelétrica e o meio externo (camada de acoplamento). Quando comparado ao acoplamento em líquido, o acoplamento em ar é ainda mais complexo, pois este tipo resulta em perdas elevadas durante a transmissão e a recepção dos sinais acústicos, devido à grande diferença de impedância acústica entre a cerâmica e o ar. Certas aplicações requerem um acoplamento em ar e, para isso, os transdutores ultrassônicos usados devem ter banda larga, além de uma baixa impedância acústica. O aumento da largura de banda de um transdutor piezelétrico pode ser alcançado com o emprego de piezocompósitos, de uma camada de retaguarda, de camadas de acoplamento frontal e melhorias na parte eletrônica. A contribuição deste trabalho visa a estudar e desenvolver piezocompósitos com maior largura de banda para aplicação em transdutores de ultrassom para acoplamento em ar. De modo geral, os piezocompósitos possibilitam um maior fator de acoplamento eletromecânico e uma menor impedância acústica quando comparado às cerâmicas piezelétricas convencionais. Neste trabalho foram realizadas a modelagem, a construção e a caracterização de três tipos de piezocompósitos: piezocompósitos com gradação da densidade, piezocompósitos 2-2, e piezocompósitos 1-3. Naqueles com gradação da densidade,variaram-se os parâmetros profundidade, largura e distribuição dos cortes. O método de elementos finitos foi utilizado para analisar a influência dos parâmetros dos cortes. Os piezocompósitos foram construídos a partir de piezocerâmicas circulares e retangulares. Alguns dos piezocompósitos construídos foram submetidos a experimentos de interferometria a laser, mostrando a variação da distribuição dos deslocamentos máximos na superfície em função da frequência. A partir do espectro de frequência da condutância e dos valores inferiores e superiores da largura de banda foram analisados os deslocamentos máximos nas diversas regiões da superfície dos piezocompósitos. Nos piezocompósitos gradados observou-se que os deslocamentos máximos em determinadas regiões da superfície do piezocompósito dependiam da frequência de excitação. Desse modo, os piezocompósitos gradados apresentaram fator de acoplamento eletromecânico e largura de banda maiores do que os dos piezocompósitos 1-3. Transdutores com emissão em ar construídos a partir de piezocompósito gradado e do tipo 1-3 foram caracterizados e medidos os parâmetros largura de banda e fator de acoplamento eletromecânico. O transdutor construído a partir do piezocompósito gradado apresentou maior largura de banda quando comparado com o transdutor do tipo 1-3. / In order to generate and emit a short pulse and receive the echoes with high sensitivity, an ultrasound transducer requires a backing layer to attenuate the signal going backwards and a matching layer to match the acoustical impedances of the piezoceramic and the medium. When compared to liquid coupling, air coupling is further complicated because the large mismatch in acoustic impedance between the ceramic and air results in high losses during transmission and reception of acoustic signals. Certain applications require air-coupling and, therefore, the ultrasonic transducers used must be broadband and have low acoustic impedance. The increase of the bandwidth of a piezoelectric transducer can be achieved with the use of piezocomposites, a back layer, frontal coupling layers and improvements in the electronic part. The contribution of this work aims to study and develop piezocomposites with higher bandwidth for application in ultrasonic transducers with air coupling. In general, the piezocomposites allow a higher electromechanical coupling factor and a lower acoustic impedance when compared to conventional piezoelectric ceramics. In this work, three types of piezocomposites were made: piezocomposites with density gradation, piezocomposites 2-2, and piezocomposites 1-3. In those with density gradation, depth, width and distribution of the cuts were varied. The finite element method was used to analyze the influence of the cut parameters. The piezocomposites were constructed from circular and rectangular piezoceramics. Some of the constructed piezocomposites were submitted to laser interferometry experiments, which showed the variation of the distribution of the maximum displacements in the surface as a function of the frequency. From the frequency spectrum of the conductance curve and of the lower and upper values of bandwidth, the maximum displacements in the various surface regions of the piezocomposites were analyzed. In the graded piezocomposites it was observed that the maximum displacements in certain regions of the surface of the piezocomposite depend on the frequency of excitation. Thus, the graded piezocomposites presented higher electromechanical coupling factor and bandwidth than the piezocomposites 1- 3. Air-coupled transducers constructed from graded piezocomposite and type 1-3 were characterized and measured the parameters bandwidth and electromechanical coupling factor. The transducer constructed from the graded piezocomposite presented higher bandwidth when compared to the type 1-3 transducer.

This work describes the development of an optical probe for measuring movement of tissue particles deep inside which are loaded by an ultrasound remote palpation device. The principle of the method is that ultrasound force which can be applied inside the tissue makes the tissue particles vibrate and this vibration phase-modulates the light intercepting the insoniified region which results in a modulated speckle intensity on detection outside the object. This speckle intensity modulation detected through the measured intensity autocorrelation is a measure of the vibration amplitude. Since the vibration amplitude is related to the local elastic properties of the medium, the measured modulation depth in intensity autocorrelation can be used to map the elastic property in the insonified region. In this work, first the ultrasound induced force is calculated for both plane and focused ultrasound beams, and converted to amplitude of vibration and refractive index modulation, solving the forward elastography equation. Light propagation inside an insonified object is modelled using Monte Carlo simulation and the amplitude and intensity correlations are computed. The modulation depth on the autocorrelation is estimated and shown that it is inversely correlated to the local elastic modulus and optical absorption coefficient. It is further shown that whereas the variation in modulation depth is linear with respect to absorption coefficient, the same variation with elastic property is nonlinear. These results are verified experimentally in a tissue mimicking phantom. The phantom was constructed out of poly vinyl alcohol(PVA) whose optical, mechanical and acoustic properties are independently controlled. It is also shown that for loading with focused ultrasound beam the displacement is almost along the ultrasound transducer axis and therefore the contribution from refractive index modulation alone can be ascertained by probing the insonified perpendicular to the transducer axis. This helps one to find the contribution to the modulation depth from the ultrasound-induced vibration, which can be used to compute a quantitative estimate of the elastic modulus from the modulation depth.

Ultrasonic sensors are well known for various applications such as NDT, ultrasound imaging, and proximity sensing. Conventional ultrasound transducers are bulky, work at notoriously high voltages, and consume significant power. Microfabrication techniques are leading to a paradigm shift in the field of ultrasonics by enabling development of low power - small footprint ultrasound transducers. This work focuses on the development of piezoelectric type flexural mode micromachined ultrasound transducer also known as PMUTs. We start by establishing a system level analytical model of a PMUT and use it to offer insights into scaling of the performance of the transducer with respect to various design parameters. In this analysis we give special attention to residual stresses thus establishing a contrast between membrane type and plate type PMUTs. After going through various steps of material development and microfabrication, we obtain arrays of PMUTs with different designs. PZT thin films deposited by sol-gel method are used as the piezoelectric layer in the multilayer stack. Further, we present a thorough characterization of fabricated PMUTs which includes measurement of the piezoelectric properties of the embedded PZT thin film, electrical impedance of the electromechanical transducer, its vibrational charac-teristics and acoustic radiation from a single PMUT cell. We also develop a pre-amplifier circuit for a PMUT receiver and present its working as a simple proximity sensor. After establishing the repeatability and predictability of our PMUT sensors we delve into application development beyond ultrasound imaging. Experiments and analysis of PMUTs submerged in water show strong structural-acoustic coupling between the PMUT membrane and the surrounding fluid. We hypothesize the applicability of this feature to sense changes in the acoustic environment of a PMUT. To this end, we integrate an array of PMUTs with a micro-fluidic chip and study the changes in the vibrational behaviour of the PMUT in response to change in the air-water ratio in a closed cell around a PMUT membrane. We also present our preliminary results on presence of micro-bubbles in the closed cell around the PMUT.

Para que um transdutor ultrassônico gere e transmita um pulso curto e receba ecos com elevada sensibilidade, além de uma camada de retaguarda que absorva as ondas emitidas para trás, é necessário que haja um bom casamento de impedância acústica entre a cerâmica piezelétrica e o meio externo (camada de acoplamento). Quando comparado ao acoplamento em líquido, o acoplamento em ar é ainda mais complexo, pois este tipo resulta em perdas elevadas durante a transmissão e a recepção dos sinais acústicos, devido à grande diferença de impedância acústica entre a cerâmica e o ar. Certas aplicações requerem um acoplamento em ar e, para isso, os transdutores ultrassônicos usados devem ter banda larga, além de uma baixa impedância acústica. O aumento da largura de banda de um transdutor piezelétrico pode ser alcançado com o emprego de piezocompósitos, de uma camada de retaguarda, de camadas de acoplamento frontal e melhorias na parte eletrônica. A contribuição deste trabalho visa a estudar e desenvolver piezocompósitos com maior largura de banda para aplicação em transdutores de ultrassom para acoplamento em ar. De modo geral, os piezocompósitos possibilitam um maior fator de acoplamento eletromecânico e uma menor impedância acústica quando comparado às cerâmicas piezelétricas convencionais. Neste trabalho foram realizadas a modelagem, a construção e a caracterização de três tipos de piezocompósitos: piezocompósitos com gradação da densidade, piezocompósitos 2-2, e piezocompósitos 1-3. Naqueles com gradação da densidade,variaram-se os parâmetros profundidade, largura e distribuição dos cortes. O método de elementos finitos foi utilizado para analisar a influência dos parâmetros dos cortes. Os piezocompósitos foram construídos a partir de piezocerâmicas circulares e retangulares. Alguns dos piezocompósitos construídos foram submetidos a experimentos de interferometria a laser, mostrando a variação da distribuição dos deslocamentos máximos na superfície em função da frequência. A partir do espectro de frequência da condutância e dos valores inferiores e superiores da largura de banda foram analisados os deslocamentos máximos nas diversas regiões da superfície dos piezocompósitos. Nos piezocompósitos gradados observou-se que os deslocamentos máximos em determinadas regiões da superfície do piezocompósito dependiam da frequência de excitação. Desse modo, os piezocompósitos gradados apresentaram fator de acoplamento eletromecânico e largura de banda maiores do que os dos piezocompósitos 1-3. Transdutores com emissão em ar construídos a partir de piezocompósito gradado e do tipo 1-3 foram caracterizados e medidos os parâmetros largura de banda e fator de acoplamento eletromecânico. O transdutor construído a partir do piezocompósito gradado apresentou maior largura de banda quando comparado com o transdutor do tipo 1-3. / In order to generate and emit a short pulse and receive the echoes with high sensitivity, an ultrasound transducer requires a backing layer to attenuate the signal going backwards and a matching layer to match the acoustical impedances of the piezoceramic and the medium. When compared to liquid coupling, air coupling is further complicated because the large mismatch in acoustic impedance between the ceramic and air results in high losses during transmission and reception of acoustic signals. Certain applications require air-coupling and, therefore, the ultrasonic transducers used must be broadband and have low acoustic impedance. The increase of the bandwidth of a piezoelectric transducer can be achieved with the use of piezocomposites, a back layer, frontal coupling layers and improvements in the electronic part. The contribution of this work aims to study and develop piezocomposites with higher bandwidth for application in ultrasonic transducers with air coupling. In general, the piezocomposites allow a higher electromechanical coupling factor and a lower acoustic impedance when compared to conventional piezoelectric ceramics. In this work, three types of piezocomposites were made: piezocomposites with density gradation, piezocomposites 2-2, and piezocomposites 1-3. In those with density gradation, depth, width and distribution of the cuts were varied. The finite element method was used to analyze the influence of the cut parameters. The piezocomposites were constructed from circular and rectangular piezoceramics. Some of the constructed piezocomposites were submitted to laser interferometry experiments, which showed the variation of the distribution of the maximum displacements in the surface as a function of the frequency. From the frequency spectrum of the conductance curve and of the lower and upper values of bandwidth, the maximum displacements in the various surface regions of the piezocomposites were analyzed. In the graded piezocomposites it was observed that the maximum displacements in certain regions of the surface of the piezocomposite depend on the frequency of excitation. Thus, the graded piezocomposites presented higher electromechanical coupling factor and bandwidth than the piezocomposites 1- 3. Air-coupled transducers constructed from graded piezocomposite and type 1-3 were characterized and measured the parameters bandwidth and electromechanical coupling factor. The transducer constructed from the graded piezocomposite presented higher bandwidth when compared to the type 1-3 transducer.