Driving electric field effects on piezoelectric transducers

Electromechanical properties for lead zirconate-titanate Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O-3 (PZT) based ceramic and lithium niobate LiNbO3 (LN) crystal piezoelectric transducers were studied from a driving electric field viewpoint. The vibration velocity linearly increases with the driving field for a 128 degrees-rotated Y-cut LN transducer and its maximum vibration velocity which can be used is 2.7 m/s when driven with the driving field of 7 x 10(2) V/m. The transducer is mechanically broken when driven with a higher field. The vibration velocity for the PZT based ceramic transducer initially increases with an increasing field and then gradually converges onto a certain value accompanied by heat generation. These phenomena are caused by the decrease in the mechanical quality factor with an increasing field. The 0.45PbZrO(3)-0.45PbTiO(3)-0.10Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O-3 ceramic transducer is capable of generating 0.68 m/s with 5.5 x 10(3) V/m.