PIEZOELECTRIC CONSTANT FOR BINARY PIEZOELECTRIC 0-3 CONNECTIVITY COMPOSITES AND THE EFFECT OF MIXED CONNECTIVITY

An analytic expression is presented for the piezoelectric d constant of a binary piezoelectric 0-3 connectivity composite. The expression is developed under the limiting assumption that the dielectric constant of the ceramic is much greater than the matrix. Predictions made using the theory compare very favorably with available experimental data. A 0-3/1-3 mixed connectivity model is also described for composites in which the average piezoceramic particle size is a significant fraction of the thickness of the composite.