New piezoelectric polymer for air-borne and water-borne sound transducers

Acoustic transducers made of a charged cellular polymer called EMFi have been designed and investigated with respect to air-borne and water-borne sound. The longitudinal transducer constant is around 90 pC/N, strongly exceeding the values of other piezoelectric polymers. This is mainly attributed to the very low Young's modulus of about 2 MPa. The acoustic impedance is only 2.6 x 10(4)kg/(m(2)s) and results in good matching to air but strong loading under water. Due to this strong loading, a pronounced reduction of resonance frequency from 300 kHz in air down to 17 kKz under water is observed. The experiments indicate that fluid loading is not only mass-like but also compliant, reducing the transducer's sensitivity below the resonance frequency of about -63 dB re 1 V/Pa (0.7 mV/Pa) in air to -71 dB re 1 V/Pa under water. This compliance is attributed to the medium's compressibility. Piezoelectricity of EMFi films is limited to temperatures below 70 degreesC; above, irreversible discharge of trapped charges takes place. Furthermore, a second type of EMFi, called "OS" was investigated, having a piezoelectric constant of 15 pC/N and a Young's modulus of 6 MPa. In quasi-static sensor measurements, the piezoelectric constant increases with the applied load. This nonlinearity explains the higher values reported in other publications on the same materials. (C) 2001 Acoustical Society of America.