A novel thick-film strain transducer using piezoelectric paint

This payer describes the manufacture and testing of a novel strain transducer for use in structural vibration monitoring, based on piezoelectric paint. The materials selection and development of application techniques are outlined for the three principal components of the transducer (paint binder, piezoelectric material and electrode). The final design comprised a suspension of milled lead zirconate/lead titanate (PZT) ceramic powder in lacquer with a gold electrode formed by vapour deposition The transducers were tested for variability and for dynamic properties (bandwidth and dynamic range). It was found that there is considerable scatter between the output sensitivities of individual transducers, but that the dynamic properties are very consistent. It is shown that the techniques developed form the basis for a viable vibration transducer in the range 20-600 Hz.