title: Lead-free intravascular ultrasound transducer using BZT-50BCT ceramics.
abstract: This paper reports the fabrication and evaluation of a high-frequency ultrasonic transducer based on a new lead-free piezoelectric material for intravascular imaging application. Lead-free 0.5Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO4(BZT-50BCT) ceramic with a high dielectric constant (~2800) was employed to develop a high-frequency (~30 MHz) needle-type ultrasonic transducer. With superior piezoelectric performance (piezoelectric coefficient d33 ~ 600 pC/N), the lead-free transducer was found to exhibit a -6-dB bandwidth of 53% with an insertion loss of 18.7 dB. In vitro intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging of a human cadaver coronary artery was performed to demonstrate the potential of the lead-free transducer for biomedical imaging applications. This is the first time that a lead-free transducer has been used for IVUS imaging application. The experimental results suggest that the BZT-50BCT ceramic is a promising lead-free piezoelectric material for high-frequency intravascular imaging applications.
authors.forename: Xingwei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Kwok Ho
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ruimin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Xiaobing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Qifa
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: K Kirk
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Shung
mesh_terms: D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry*; D003331:Coronary Vessels; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000737:chemistry*; D014159:Transducers; D018084:Ultrasonography, Interventional / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy