Piezoelectric Paint Research Articles

Piezoelectric paints: preparation and application as built-in vibration sensors of structural materials

Piezoelectric paints were prepared using lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic powder as a pigment and epoxy resin as a binder. The obtained paints were spread on the surface of an aluminium beam and cured at room temperature, thus forming the final thin films having thicknesses of 35–81 μm and PZT volume fractions of 25%–53%. The thin films were then poled under electric fields of up to 350 kV cm−1 at room temperature, and the resulting piezoelectric activity was evaluated from vibration measurements on the aluminium beam. Although not strictly quantitative, the piezoelectric activity of the thin film showed a tendency to increase with an increase in the film thickness and the PZT volume fraction. From the standpoint of the thin film application as built-in vibration sensors, the piezoelectric activity was confirmed to be high enough to determine the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the aluminium beam.

Thin film 0–3 polymer/piezoelectric ceramic composites: Piezoelectric paints

Abstract In this paper we summarize our investigation of the electrical properties of thin-film 0–3 polymer-ceramic composites. The main objective of this study was to demonstrate the principle that a piezoelectric paint can indeed be prepared. Two polymers, an acrylic copolymer and a polyurethane, were utilized in our research. Both were loaded with 60–70 volume percent PZT and a coprecipitated PbTiO3. The addition of various surfactants and dispersing agents to the acrylate-based composites was necessary to aid in dispersing the ceramic particles in the polymer matrix. The hydrostatic strain and voltage coefficients, along with the ‘figures of merit’ for PZT-filled acrylic and polyurethane composites were found to be significantly larger than values reported previously for other 0–3 polymer-PZT composites. For acrylic copolymer-coprecipitated PbTiO3 composites, the hydrostatic coefficients were found to be roughly 50% larger than the comparable PZT-filled materials. For example, gh dh ranged from about ...