Impedance method for calculation of thermoelastic interaction of surface acoustic waves in solids

A thermal impedance has been introduced for the solution of the problem of the thermoelastic interaction of surface acoustic waves (SAW) in solids. The analytic thermal impedance is obtained for isotropic solids from the weak thermoelastic coupling approximation. The value of thermal impedance obtained depends only on three parameters: the isothermal SAW velocity, the SAW velocity for the case without dissipation of heat from the solid surface, and a thermal impedance without acoustic waves. The extended approach allows us to investigate and analyze the effect of different surface layers and continuous materials on the thermoelastic attenuation and velocity dispersion of the SAW. For example, an ideal heat conductive layer reduces the thermoelastic SAW attenuation to zero.<>