Application of gel-casting to the fabrication of 1-3 piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composites for high-frequency ultrasound devices

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2012

Authors

Garcia Gancedo, L (Author) Other; Olhero, SM (Author) Other; Jorge Lino (Author) FEUP; Ferreira, JMF (Author) Other; Demore, CEM (Author) Other; Cochran, S (Author) Other; Button, TW (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering

Vol. 22

ISSN: 0960-1317

Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 11 Citations

Scopus - 16 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-2VQ

DOI: 10.1088/0960-1317/22/12/125001

Abstract (EN): A modified gel-casting technique was used to fabricate a 1-3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite substrate formed by irregular-shaped pillar arrays of small dimensions and kerfs. This technique involves the polymerization of aqueous piezoelectric (PZT) suspensions with added water-soluble epoxy resin and polyamine-based hardener that lead to high strength, high density and resilient ceramic bodies. Soft micromoulding was used to shape the ceramic segments, and micropillars with lateral features down to 4 mu m and height-to-width aspect ratios of similar to 10 were achieved. The composite exhibited a clear thickness resonance mode at approximately 70 MHz and a k(eff) similar to 0.51, demonstrating that the ceramic micropillars possess good electrical properties. Furthermore, gel-casting allows the fabrication of ceramic structures with non-conventional shapes; hence, device design is not limited by the standard fabrication methods. This is of particular benefit for high-frequency transducers where the critical design dimensions are reduced.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 8