Lead zirconate titanate

About: Lead zirconate titanate is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7141 publications have been published within this topic receiving 150878 citations.

Thermo-electro-mechanical Performance of Piezoelectric Stack Actuators for Fuel Injector Applications

Abstract: Piezoelectric actuators are increasingly used in fuel injectors due to their quick response, high efficiency, accuracy, and excellent repeatability. Current understanding of their thermo-electro-mechanical performance under dynamic driving conditions appropriate for fuel injection is, however, limited. In this paper, the thermo-electro-mechanical performance of soft Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) stack actuators is experimentally investigated over a temperature range of -30°C to 80°C, under driving electric fields of up to 2.0 kV/mm (using an AC drive method and a biased DC offset), different frequencies, and a constant preload of about 5 MPa. Experimental results show that the dynamic stroke of the actuators increases with the magnitude and frequency of the applied electric field, as well as ambient temperature. The dynamic stroke was also found to increase with decreased driving field rise time, which is equivalent to increasing the driving field frequency. At driving frequencies lower than the resonance...

Hydrothermal synthesis of vertically aligned lead zirconate titanate nanowire arrays

Abstract: A hydrothermal method is employed for the growth of single crystal vertically aligned lead zirconate titanate (PZT) nanowire arrays. The resulting PZT nanowires were grown from a TiO2 film and are shown to be single crystal with growth in the [110] axis. PZT has a coupling coefficient up to two orders of magnitude higher than ZnO, which should provide many opportunities for the creation of active nanodevices and systems.

Fabrication, Sinterability, and Mechanical Properties of Lead Zirconate Titanate/Silver Composites

Abstract: High-toughness and high-strength lead zirconate titanate (PZT) composites that contain fine silver particles were successfully fabricated at low sintering temperatures. Addition of silver to a PZT matrix did not result in unwanted reaction phases; however, some silver diffused toward the perovskite crystal structure. A small quantity of silver accelerated the sinterability of the PZT composites. The formation of oxygen vacancies due to the partial substitution of silver appeared to enhance the sinterability of the PZT. Fracture toughness depended on the size and degree of sphericity of the silver particles, and SEM observations on crack propagation suggested that the toughening mechanism in the PZT/Ag composites involves crack bridging resulting from the ductile behavior of silver particles. It is proposed that high fracture strength in PZT/1 to 5 vol% Ag composites results from the relaxation of transformation-induced internal stress by the silver particles.

Piezoelectric paints: preparation and application as built-in vibration sensors of structural materials

Abstract: Piezoelectric paints were prepared using lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic powder as a pigment and epoxy resin as a binder. The obtained paints were spread on the surface of an aluminium beam and cured at room temperature, thus forming the final thin films having thicknesses of 35–81 μm and PZT volume fractions of 25%–53%. The thin films were then poled under electric fields of up to 350 kV cm−1 at room temperature, and the resulting piezoelectric activity was evaluated from vibration measurements on the aluminium beam. Although not strictly quantitative, the piezoelectric activity of the thin film showed a tendency to increase with an increase in the film thickness and the PZT volume fraction. From the standpoint of the thin film application as built-in vibration sensors, the piezoelectric activity was confirmed to be high enough to determine the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the aluminium beam.