Assembly fabrication and modification of elasticity in materials

Abstract

A fabricator resource receives an assembly including a first portion of material and a second portion of material. Initially, the first portion of material in the assembly may have a different modulus of elasticity than the second portion of material. The fabricator resource exposes the assembly to one or more heating/cooling cycles. Exposure of the assembly to the one or more heating/cooling cycles modifies a modulus of elasticity of the first portion of material and a modulus of elasticity of the second portion of material to desired target values (such as substantially same or different values).

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for manufacturing an ultrasonic probe assembly comprising:
 receiving the ultrasonic probe assembly including at least a first portion of material and a second portion of material; and   controlling exposure of the first portion of material and the second portion of material in the ultrasonic probe assembly to different temperatures, the controlled exposure causing a modulus of elasticity of the first material in the ultrasonic probe assembly to be substantially different than a modulus of elasticity of the second material in the ultrasonic probe assembly.   
     
     
         2 . The method as in  claim 1 , wherein controlling exposure of the ultrasonic probe assembly to different temperatures includes:
 exposing the first portion of material in the ultrasonic probe assembly to a first temperature for a controlled amount of time to set a modulus of elasticity of the first portion of material to be a first elasticity value; and   exposing the second portion of material in the ultrasonic probe assembly to a second temperature for a controlled amount of time to set a modulus of elasticity of the second portion of material to be a second elasticity value, the second elasticity value substantially different than the first elasticity value.   
     
     
         3 . The method as in  claim 1 , wherein the controlled exposure of the ultrasonic probe assembly to different temperatures causes the modulus of elasticity of the ultrasonic probe assembly to vary along a length from a distal end of the ultrasonic probe assembly to a proximal end of the ultrasonic probe assembly. 
     
     
         4 . The method as in  claim 1 , wherein controlling exposure of the first portion of material and the second portion of material in the ultrasonic probe assembly to different temperatures, tunes the first portion of material to a first resonant frequency value and second portion of material to a second resonant frequency value. 
     
     
         5 . The method as in  claim 1 , wherein the first portion of material and the second portion of material are Titanium alloys. 
     
     
         6 . An ultrasonic probe assembly comprising:
 a first portion of material having a first elasticity; and   a second portion of material, having a second elasticity, attached to the first portion of material; the first and the second elasticity are adjusted to enable the ultrasonic probe assembly to convey an ultrasonic frequency in a desired target range.   
     
     
         7 . The ultrasonic probe assembly as in  claim 6 , wherein the first portion of material and the second portion of material have a substantially same modulus of elasticity. 
     
     
         8 . The ultrasonic probe assembly as in  claim 6 , wherein the first portion of material and the second portion of material are Titanium alloys. 
     
     
         9 . The ultrasonic probe assembly as in  claim 7 , wherein the substantially same modulus of elasticity to which the first portion of material and the second portion of material are adjusted is a Young's modulus value of E=103.0 GigaPascals to 111.0 GigaPascals. 
     
     
         10 . The ultrasonic probe assembly as in claim  16 , wherein the desired target range to which the ultrasonic probe assembly is tuned is 50±3.5 KiloHertz.