A novel electromechanical foam (EFOAM) material capable of acting as an electromechanical transducer with integrated functions as a sensoractuator is investigated by manufacturing some samples of the foam and performing some tests, based on the piezo-electric effect in electro-active polymers. The resulting charge, when different known weights are applied to the sample were observed and recorded with a charge amplifier while the actuator sensitivity was also estimated using the micro-scanning laser Doppler vibrometer. EFOAM is manufactured from expancel microspheres and heated by placing the microspheres in glass slides heated up to temperatures of 135 0 C for expansion. Different samples were manufactured and charged using the corona discharge method operating under an electric field of between 11kV/cm to 15kV/cm. EFOAM displayed an electro-mechanical sensitivity of 1nm/V when characterized, and is observed that the piezoelectric nature of EFOAM exists as a characteristic of each cell within the material sample. This novel material offers much promise in the area of production of miniature electromechanical devices which maybe well applied in electroacoustic applications.
Wi n d mill C e ntr e f or Ultr as o ni c E n gi n e eri n g, El e ctr o ni c & El e ctri c al E n gi n e eri n g D e pt., Bi o a c o usti cs Gr o u p, U ni v ersit y of Str at h cl y d e Gl as g o w, S c otl a n d, U nit e d Ki n g d o m Ol u w as e u n. o m o ni yi @str at h. a c. u k
Sugar casting is a simple and cost-effective direct method of generating polymer foams. By incorporating grains directly into mixtures of polymer and piezoelectric nanoparticles it is possible to create highly compliant materials with excellent piezoelectric properties. In this work, we use the sugar casting method in combination with spin coating to prepare a highly sensitive and flexible 0-3 piezoelectric polymer thin film membranes with a layer thickness of 20 to 190 µm. Porosities and elasticity are tuned by simply adjusting the sugar/polymer mass ratio. The expected outcome of this research was improvements to the piezoelectric voltage, the g 33 measure, due to the increased compliance of the material, however iezoelectric composite membranes with high concentrations of PMN-PT also demonstrated gains in piezoelectric coupling, the d 33 measure, when cast with high volume fractions of sugar. A remarkably high d 33 coefficient of 69 pm/V was measured using the laser vibrometer technique. These innovative materials were developed as broadband ultrasonic sensors for partial discharge detection in undersea cables, however they have potential uses in energy scavenging platforms, biosensors, and acoustic actuators, among others.
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