DEVELOPMENT OF FINE-SCALE PZT CERAMIC FIBER/POLYMER SHELL COMPOSITE TRANSDUCERS

The relic processing technique was used to fabricate fine-scale piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic fiber/polymer shell composites, In this technique sacrificial activated carbon fabrics were soaked in a PZT precursor solution, dried, and heat treated to form piezoceramic relies. Relies were embedded with polymer, which was allowed to cure, and the resulting composites were polished, electroded, and poled, Different facets of the composite-forming process were examined: structural modifications, soaking, firing, and polymer impregnation, The physical and electromechanical properties of the unique resulting composite were evaluated, Optimized PZT shell composites with 39 vol% ceramic exhibited the following property values: K similar to 200, tan delta similar to 55%, d(33) similar to 290 pC/N, d(h) similar to 100 pC/N, d(h)g(h) similar to 6000 x 10(-15) m(2)/N, k(p) similar to 0.19, and k(t) similar to 0.28.