Development of Fine Scale PZT Ceramic Fiber/Polymer Shell Composite Transducers

Abstract
The relic processing technique was used to fabricate fine‐scale piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic fiber/polymer shell composites. In this technique sacrificial activated carbon fabrics were soaked in a PZT precursor solution, dried, and heat treated to form piezoceramic relics. Relics were embedded with polymer, which was allowed to cure, and the resulting composites were polished, electroded, and poled. Different facets of the composite‐ forming process were examined: structural modifications, soaking, firing, and polymer impregnation. The physical and electromechanical properties of the unique resulting composite were evaluated. Optimized PZT shell composites with 39 vol% ceramic exhibited the following property values:Kε200, tan δε5.5%,d33ε290 pC/N,dhε100 pC/N,dhghε6000 ± 10‐15m2N,kpε0.19, andktε0.28.

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