Fabrication and Piezoelectric Property Characterization of New Micro PZT Fibers and 1-3 Piezo-Composites

A novel fabrication method of micro PZT fibers and its 1-3 piezo-composites using activated carbon template was presented in this paper. Porous carbon provides a basic platform to grow PZT precursor fibers inside. PZT fibers obtained when the carbon was removed at a high temperature. And the PZT fiber composites were got by infiltrating epoxy resin into fibers. Based on the observation of X-ray diffraction (XRD), pure pervoskite fibers appeared when they were sintered at a low temperature of 950 degrees C. The straight fibers were orderly embedded and well distributed in the epoxy matrix which can be observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The diameter of fibers is around several microns with the length up to a few millimeters. Subsequently, thermo-gravimetric analysis (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were performed and the process of removing carbon as temperature changing was analyzed. The piezoelectric properties of the prepared 1-3 piezo-composites were determined by an HP impedance analyzer. The results showed that the value of k(33)/k(31) (1.734) and the mechanical quality factor (37.77). This new mico-fiber composite material shows a very good anisotropic property and has potential application as smart materials for sensors or devices which require high direction sensitivity in structural health monitoring.