Novel piezoelectric ceramics and composites for sensor and actuator applications

摘要

Novel piezoelectric ceramic, and ceramic polymer composite structures were fabricated by solid freeform fabrication (SFF) for sensor and actuator appli- cations. SFF techniques including: Fused Deposition of Ceramics (FDC), and Sanders Prototyping (SP) were uti- lized to fabricate a variety of complex structures directly from a computer aided design (CAD) file. Many novel and complex composite structures including volume fraction gradients (VFG), staggered rods, radial and curved composites, and actuator designs such as tubes, spirals and telescoping were made using the f1exibility provided by the above processes. Radial composites with various connectivities in the radial direction were made for towed array applications. VFG's were incorporated into some of these designs, with the ceramic content de- creasing from the center towards the edges. Many new designs are also being used to manufacture high authori- ty actuators utilizing the FDC technique. The telescoping actuation of the device is the summation of actuation of all individual tubes making of the actuator, therefore, in- creasing the number of the tubes which are the driving component of the actuator will further enhance the dis- placement. The design, fabrication and electromechani- cal properties of these sensor and actuator structures are discussed in this paper.