A Novel 3D-Printed (0-3) Piezocomposite Material for Sensing Applications

Abstract

The desire for highly sensitive, miniature sensors and actuators has grown in recent years. This desire has led to the recent development of 3D-printed sensors and actuators using piezocomposites. The use of 3D-printing leads to the rapid development of devices at lower costs and device personalization. This work describes the process of developing a novel 0-3 piezocomposite material, 3D – printing using a digital light processing technique, and characterization. The composite material was made using a photopolymer, grey resin and lead magnesium niobate and lead titanate (PMN-PT) with particles sizes $5 \mu \mathrm{m}$. 3D-printing of a membrane using the piezoelectric composite with high concentrations of PMN-PT was achieved with good print resolution and remarkably high $d _{33}$ coefficient of 74 pm/V, measured using the laser vibrometer technique. Thin film samples of the composites were also made using spin coating technique to produce composites with 0-3 connectivity pattern and layer thickness of $90 \mu \mathrm{m}$. The bottom-up digital light processing method used provides a narrow design space in which the composite may be selectively cured and the parameters which allow successful generation of highly piezoelectric printed parts was investigated. The microstructure of the piezocomposites was analyzed using a scanning electron micrograph.