Method and apparaus for measuring acoustic properties of materials to determine other physical propertiesfield of the invention

摘要

One embodiment of the present invention relates to an acoustic property analysis device that does not require the predetermination of the fast and slow axis of the material. The device generally includes at least two acoustic transducer elements that are positioned on a sample in a specific orientation relative to one another. The acoustic transducer elements are independently coupled to waveform generators. The independent waveform generators can generate particular waves in each of the acoustic transducer elements to produce a resulting wave having a known polarization. The resulting wave propagates through the sample and is affected by the particular anisotropic properties of the sample. The components of the resulting wave are generally affected differently by the anisotropic properties in the sample. For example, one of the component waves may propagate faster than another wave through a particular defect in the sample. The combination of the component waves or the resulting wave will therefore change based on how each of the component waves are affected. The resulting wave bounces off the bottom of the sample and is then received by the acoustic transducer elements. Various parameters can then be measured to determine the characteristics of the sample.