Processing method and property study for cement-based piezoelectric composites and sensors

Abstract

The cement-based piezoelectric composite is developed to fabricate smart sensors in real-time structural health monitoring. The cement-based piezoelectric sensor is suitable for applications in civil engineering because of its good compatibility in acoustic impedance. The 0–3 cement-based piezoelectric composites were fabricated by mixing the cement particles and lead zirconate titanate powders under high pressure in this paper. The parameters including the piezoelectric factors, relative dielectric constant ɛr, thickness and planar electromechanical coupling coefficients of cement-based composites with different lead zirconate titanate ceramic contents were measured to characterise the electromechanical coupling properties. Further, the acoustic impedance was detected to test acoustic compatibility with concrete materials. Laboratory tests show that the voltage output of the sensor is linearly proportional to the applied pressure. The cement-based piezoelectric sensors have better mechanical–electrical conversion property than pure ceramic sensors. The findings indicate that the 0–3 cement-based piezoelectric sensor meets all requirements of application in construction engineering, and is feasible to be utilised in concrete structures.