Bi-material ultrasonic horn with integral isolation member

Abstract

Disclosed is an ultrasonic horn for transporting ultrasonic energy to an operating location including a horn member, an energy transfer surface disposed on the horn member and an axle member joined to the horn member. The axle member can be provided by a first material. The ultrasonic horn can also include an isolation member integrally joined to the axle member adapted for mounting said ultrasonic horn at a work location, and a portion of said isolation member can be provided by a second material.

1 . An ultrasonic horn for transporting ultrasonic energy to an operating location defining a radial direction and an axial direction, said ultrasonic horn comprising: 
 a horn member;    an energy transfer surface disposed on said horn member;    an axle member joined to said horn member wherein said axle member is provided by a first material; and    an isolation member integrally joined to said axle member and adapted for mounting said ultrasonic horn at a work location, wherein at least a portion of said isolation member is provided by a second material.    
     
     
         2 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 1  wherein said isolation member provides a component of flexure along a radial direction and a component of flexure along said axial direction.  
     
     
         3 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 1  wherein said ultrasonic horn exhibits a static deflection of not more than 0.004 mm at a load of 445 Newtons in said axial direction and in said radial direction.  
     
     
         4 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 1  wherein said isolation member has a radial isolation submember integrally joined to said axle member and extending in said radial direction from said axle member an axial isolation submember integrally joined to said radial isolation submember and extending in said axial direction from said radial isolation submember.  
     
     
         5 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 4  wherein said radial isolation submember is substantially disk-shaped.  
     
     
         6 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 4  wherein said axial isolation submember is substantially cylinder-shaped.  
     
     
         7 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 4  wherein said radial isolation submember is provided at least in part by said first material.  
     
     
         8 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 4  wherein said axial isolation submember is provided at least in part by said second material.  
     
     
         9 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 4  wherein said isolation member further comprises a mixture zone, said mixture zone comprising said first material intermixed with said second material.  
     
     
         10 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 9  wherein said mixture zone is disposed proximate said axle member.  
     
     
         11 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 1  wherein said ultrasonic horn is a rotary ultrasonic horn configured to rotate about said axle member and said horn member is a generally disk-shaped horn member and said energy transfer surface is provided by an outer peripheral surface of said generally disk-shaped horn member.  
     
     
         12 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 1  wherein said horn member has a substantially uniformly isotropic expansion and contraction amplitude upon excitation at an operating frequency.  
     
     
         13 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 12  wherein said expansion and said contraction is at least about 90% uniform.  
     
     
         14 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 12  wherein said operating frequency is between about 15,000 and about 60,000 Hz.  
     
     
         15 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 1  wherein said ultrasonic horn is manufactured by a process comprising hot isostatic pressing.  
     
     
         16 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 1  wherein said first material transports ultrasonic energy at least 200 percent more efficiently than said second material.  
     
     
         17 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 1  wherein said first material transports ultrasonic energy at least 500 percent more efficiently than said second material.  
     
     
         18 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 1  wherein said first material is a titanium-based material.  
     
     
         19 . The ultrasonic horn of  claim 1  further comprising a node plane wherein said isolation member is integrally joined to said axle member proximate said node plane.  
     
     
         20 . An ultrasonic horn for transporting ultrasonic energy to an operating location defining a radial direction and an axial direction, said ultrasonic horn comprising: 
 a horn member;    an energy transfer surface disposed on said horn member;    an axle member joined to said horn member; and    an isolation member integrally joined to said axle member and adapted for mounting said ultrasonic horn at a work location, wherein said axle member is configured to transport ultrasonic energy at least 200 percent more efficiently than at least a portion of said isolation member.    
     
     
         21 . An ultrasonic horn for transporting ultrasonic energy to an operating location defining a radial direction and an axial direction, said ultrasonic horn comprising: 
 a horn member;    an energy transfer surface disposed on said horn member;    an axle member joined to said horn member; and    an isolation member integrally joined to said axle member and adapted for mounting said ultrasonic horn at a work location, wherein at least a portion of said isolation member is acoustically decoupled from said axle member.    
     
     
         22 . A method for manufacturing an ultrasonic horn, said method comprising: 
 forming metal powder into a horn body perform within a preform mold; and    hot isostatically pressing said horn body preform to consolidate said metal powder to form a compressed horn preform shape having a uniform isotropic microstructure characterized by randomly isotropic directional grain alignment, wherein at least a portion of said ultrasonic horn is provided by said preform mold.