Study on the Viscoelasticity Measurement of Materials Based on Surface Reflected Waves

The reflected waves received from ultrasonic waves propagating in materials contain information that constitutes the physical properties, material composition, defects, and degradation states. When measuring the dynamic viscoelasticity, the traditional bottom reflection method (BRM) cannot be used to measure the bottom irregular samples. In this paper, the storage modulus, loss modulus, and loss tangent are extracted by the surface reflection method (SRM) to evaluate the elastomer sample viscoelasticity. A theoretical study on the phase change caused by multiple reflections in the case of non-thin layer coupling is conducted. Based on this research, the experimental system is built. The results show that considering the thickness of the coupling layer can optimize the determination of viscoelasticity and reduce the error of the viscoelastic evaluation results of an elastomer with the traditional BRM. Finally, based on the principle of the SRM, the density of the elastomers is measured, and the feasibility and overall efficiency of this method are verified by experiments.