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How Slowness Curves are Created
Slowness curves are typically constructed by selecting a plane in the material that you are studying and then calculating various phase velocities for the wave passing through the material in numerous directions through that material. Solids are the materials most frequently studied when considering slowness curves.
Simple Slowness Curves
The slowness curve for a metal such as aluminum is very simple. When passing waves through aluminum, the propagation of the waves is uniform throughout the metal.This results in a slowness curve that resembles the expanding, but uniform, circles of the bullseye of a target. Slowness curves for other stable metals are similarly simple.
Elasticity Revealed in Slowness Curves
The elasticity of certain solids such as plastics or epoxies, is readily apparent when examining their slowness curves. The propagation of the waves through such materials is not uniform, as is the case with stable metals, and a quick glance at their slowness curves reveals the flexibility (or the stiffness) of the material.
Surface Acoustic Waves
A practical application of the use of slowness curves is in the electronics industry. Vincent Laude and Sylvain Ballandras of the Associe´ a` l'Universite´ de Franche-Comte´in Besancon, France explain that modeling surface acoustic (sound) waves (SAWs), when propagating through interdigital transducers, provides valuable information in the construction of transducers, as reported in the Journal of Applied Physics. The mass-loading effect and capacities of acoustic waves through such transducers has been given attention, and the analyzation of their slowness curves helps engineers to construct basic parameters for their efficient design.