USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Walter A Schulze

Robert E Newnham

Leslie E Cross

Ahmad Safari

James V Biggers

Thomas R Shrout

Composites of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and inactive polymers with 3-1 and 3-2 patterns and a method of fabrication thereof are described. Fabrication is accomplished by drilling holes in sintered PZT blocks and filling the holes with epoxy or some other inactive polymer. The influence of hole size and volume fraction PZT on the hydrostatic properties of the composite is evaluated. By decoupling the piezoelectric coefficients d.sub.33 and d.sub.31 in the composite, the hydrostatic coefficients are greatly enhanced.

Perforated PZT polymer composites

PZT/polymer composites and a simplified method of their fabrication are dribed. Commercially available PZT Pb(Zr, Ti)O.sub.3 powder is thoroughly mixed with a binder such as polyvinylalcohol and polymethyl methacrylate (PMM) spheres and pressed into pellets. The binder and PMM spheres are burnt out by heating pellets slowly and the porous pellets so obtained are sintered by heating them in closed high-purity alumina crucibles and lead zirconate as a source of lead is added thereto. The highly porous pellets thus obtained are impregnated with a suitable polymer such as silicone rubber elastomer or vinylcyclohexene dioxide epoxy.

Growing community of inventors

State College, PA, United States of America

Walter A Schulze