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Published on: April 27, 2016
Porous PZT ceramics for receiving transducers
Hudai Kara1, Rajamani Ramesh, Ron Stevens
1Materials Research Centre, Department of Engineering & Applied Science, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom. H.Kara@bath.ac.uk
Summary
Porous lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezocomposites, particularly PZT-air, show enhanced performance with increased porosity. These materials offer improved hydrostatic properties for sensitive applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Ceramic Engineering
- Piezoelectric Materials
Background:
- Porous piezoelectric ceramics offer tunable properties.
- PZT-polymer and PZT-air composites are explored for advanced applications.
- Optimizing porosity is key to enhancing piezoelectric performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To manufacture and characterize PZT-air and PZT-polymer piezocomposites.
- To evaluate the impact of porosity/polymer content on key piezoelectric properties.
- To compare the performance of PZT-air versus PZT-polymer composites.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of piezocomposites with varying PZT ceramic volume fractions.
- Characterization of hydrostatic charge (dh) and voltage (gh) coefficients.
- Measurement of permittivity, hydrostatic figure of merit (dh.gh), and absolute sensitivity (M).
Main Results:
- Hydrostatic voltage coefficient (gh) increased with decreasing PZT volume.
- Hydrostatic figure of merit (dh.gh) peaked at 80-90% porosity/polymer content.
- PZT-air composites demonstrated superior performance over PZT-polymer composites.
Conclusions:
- PZT-air piezocomposites exhibit enhanced hydrostatic properties compared to PZT-polymer.
- Optimized porosity in PZT-air composites leads to higher sensitivity and figure of merit.
- Hydrophone performance was slightly reduced by cable loading and low permittivity.
