Pure-mode loci in piezoelectric plate resonators: application to materials evaluation in class 4 mm

The accuracy of piezoelectric material evaluations can be enhanced by the use of pure-mode orientations, provided that exact analytic expressions for the pure-mode eigenvalues are known. The accuracy is enhanced by eliminating the need to extract constants from the differences in sums and products of measured quantities. It is necessary to adopt an approach for determining pure-mode loci in piezoelectric crystals which yields simple analytic expressions for the stiffness eigenvalues and provides a convenient engineering methodology for pure-mode sample set selection. The theory of simple thickness modes in piezoelectric plate vibrators is reviewed. The determination of pure-mode loci and its application to pure-mode sample set selection for dilithium tetraborate are presented. Thickness- and lateral-field excitation considerations are discussed.