Electrical and elastic properties of 1–3 PZT/epoxy piezoelectric composites

This paper focused on the electrical and elastic properties of 1–3 PZT/epoxy composites fabricated by a dice-fill method. When PZT volume fractions are 10–35 vol.%, the piezoelectric constants d 33 of the PZT/epoxy composites are about 170–270 pC/N and permittivity ɛ r measured at 1 kHz is 80–350. The composites also possess lower acoustic impedance Z of 4–9 Mrayl, higher thickness electromechanical coupling coefficient k t of 65% and better flexibility C 33 of 13–33 GPa. Three mode resonant characteristics were analyzed based on the sizes and microstructural periodicity of composites, which had a great effect on k t. Finally, these electrical and elastic properties of the composites were compared with the prediction based on a well-known homogenization model.