Solid polymers, including polystyrene, poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly(methyl methacrylate), and so forth, suspended in a paramagnetic aqueous solution were levitated in different vertical positions under a magnetic field gradient. This phenomenon will be used for separating solid polymers.

We investigate the piezoelectric response of piezoelectric‐rubber consisting of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) particles and silicon rubber prepared by holding it at 100°C for 60 min. Two types of piezoelectric‐rubber were used; one was mixed with PZT particles forming linear aggregates, and the other was mixed with PZT particles forming a random dispersion. The piezoelectric‐rubber whose PZT particles were aligned normal to the rubber surface had much higher piezoelectric effect than the type of piezoelectric‐rubber whose PZT particles were randomly dispersed. The reason for this is that force applied on the former is directly transmitted to PZT particles and the electric charges generated from PZT particles had higher mobility because of the aligned PZT particles, which were connected with each other. As a result, the formation of linear aggregates of PZT particles in rubber was effective in enhancing piezoelectric properties of piezoelectric‐rubber. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 39862.

This study was addressed to the influence of an electric field strength applied at fabrication process and matrix properties, such as the dielectric constant and the Young's modulus, on "pseudo-1-3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite" in order to further enhance the piezoelectricity of that. The pseudo-1-3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite consists of linearly ordered piezoelectric ceramic particles in polymer material. Silicone gel, silicone rubber, urethane rubber, and poly-methyl-methacrylate, which exhibit different dielectric constants and Young's modulus, were used as matrices to evaluate the matrix influence. The piezoelectricity of the pseudo-1-3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite was evaluated using the piezoelectric strain constant d 33 . The d 33 is one of the indices of the piezoelectric properties for piezoelectric materials. As a result, it was confirmed that d 33 of the pseudo-1-3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite increased with the increase of the electric filed strength applied at fabrication process, though, it reached a constant value at a certain strength value. Further it was confirmed that dielectric constant of the matrix had a small influence on d 33 of the pseudo-1-3 piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composite, however, in case of matrix of lower Young's modulus, d 33 was increase.

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