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

• Tipo: Artigo em Revista Científica Internacional
• Data: 2012

Autores

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

Revista

Título: Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering

Vol. 22

ISSN: 0960-1317

Editora: Institute of Physics Publishing

Indexação

ISI Web of Knowledge - 11 Citações

Scopus - 16 Citações

Outras Informações

ID Authenticus: 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.

Idioma: Inglês

Tipo (Avaliação Docente): Científica

Nº de páginas: 8