Fabrication of Piezoelectric Ceramic/Polymer Composites by Injection Molding
Abstract
Piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composites have many applications in advanced Navy transducers and commercial ultrasonic imaging. Unfortunately, their application has been limited by the lack of a manufacturing-viable technology capable of meeting both the low cost and high volume production requirements. The principal manufacturing difficulty lies in the handling of millions of fine PZT fibers during their assembly into a typical composite transducer installation. In this program, Materials Systems Inc. (MSI) has demonstrated that ceramic injection molding is capable of meeting the stringent transducer cost and assembly needs of piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composites for Navy applications. The injection molding approach overcomes the difficulty of assembling oriented ceramic fibers into composite transducers by net-shape performing ceramic fiber arrays. Aside from this advantage, the process makes feasible the construction of composite transducers having more complex ceramic element geometries than those previously envisioned, leading to greater design flexibility for improved acoustic impedance matching, lateral mode cancellation and superior actuator performance
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 15, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA267302