NICOP - Novel Characterization Methods for Next Generation Ferroelectric Transduction
Abstract
Naval requirements for high intensity sonar projectors as well as the parallel need for high fidelityacoustic sensing creates enormous demands on modern materials engineering. Materials engineeringfor piezoelectric applications such as sonar and ultrasound trans"ducers, resonators, and actuatorsseeks to maximize mechanical output for a given electrical stimulus, by which definition there are" fewmore promising materials for these applications than the single crystal lead ~indium niobate ~ leadmagnesium niobate ~ lead ti"tanate~ extensive family of materials. For compositions close to aparticular, and very special, chemical and structural boundary, t"he crystal exhibits piezoelectricconstants (the degree to which the material changes shape with applied voltage) an order ofmagnit"ude larger than those seen in all ceramic piezoelectric materials, and with the electric fieldoriented along particular crystallogr""aphic directions, massive engineering strains up to 1% areachievable. The origin of these remarkable properties is still under deba""te, but is related to thematerial~s crystal structure, chemical purity and crystalline stability (where tiny ~domains~ in thecryst""al seem to dominate its performance) when it is subjected to electrical, mechanical or thermalstresses.To exploit the extremely la"rge actuation (and hence sonar/projector) capabilities of this new state-ofthe-art Generation II/III single crystal piezoelectric m"aterial, in this project we will explore the stabilityof their crystallographic variants as well as their important dynamic feature"s relevant to sonarprojectors. We will accomplish this by applying in situ electrical fields and in situ mechanical stressesto the crystals that induce changes in its structure measured using x-ray synchrotron diffraction. Thematerials~ electrical and functional response will be simultaneously assessed using in situ electricaltest equipment. The in situ work will be carried out at the X-Ra"y synchrotron beam-line BM28-XMaS at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, by UK companyElectro"sciences Ltd. The results will shed more light on the nature of the complex structural changesthat the crystals exhibit when subjec"t to electrical, mechanical and thermal forces. We will elucidatethe mechanism responsible for the incredible resilience of the mat""erial even after millions of stresscycles recently measured, and we will advance towards the development of a wide range of sonar,"transducer and actuation devices based on these emerging materials.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 06, 2017
- Source ID
- N629091812008
Entities
People
- Markys G Cain
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy