Chapter 8 - Piezocomposite Design, Manufacture, and Applications

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of piezocomposite materials. It describes the phenomenon of piezoelectricity, which is the basis of all piezocomposites, and discusses the attributes of the primary piezoceramic materials. The design, manufacturing processes, and primary applications of two commercially available piezocomposite configurations are illustrated. Simple analytical models that are used to describe the properties of these two composite designs are also presented. The chapter then discusses the design issues and manufacturing processes, and describes some important applications for 0-3 and 1-3 type piezoelectric ceramicpolymer composites. The poled ferroelectric ceramics PT and PZT are the materials of choice as the active component in nearly all piezocomposite devices. This is because of their high piezoelectric response and stability. Piezocomposites offer the advantage of easy design flexibility for specific applications, especially in the case of 1-3 connectivity. Although shape apodization, increased band width, and constant beam width transducers can be accomplished with monolithic piezoceramics, it is at a high cost. With piezocomposites, these features can be obtained much more cheaply. In addition, the dice-and-fill and injection molding manufacturing processes have made these, as well as future, advances in product development possible.