3D-Printing Piezoelectric Composite with Honeycomb Structure for Ultrasonic Devices

Abstract

Piezoelectric composites are considered excellent core materials for fabricating various ultrasonic devices. For the traditional fabrication process, piezoelectric composite structures are mainly prepared by mold forming, mixing, and dicing-filing techniques. However, these techniques are limited on fabricating shapes with complex structures. With the rapid development of additive manufacturing (AM), many research fields have applied AM technology to produce functional materials with various geometric shapes. In this study, the Mask-Image-Projection-based Stereolithography (MIP-SL) process, one of the AM (3D-printing) methods, was used to build BaTiO3-based piezoelectric composite ceramics with honeycomb structure design. A sintered sample with denser body and higher density was achieved (i.e., density obtained 5.96 g/cm3), and the 3D-printed ceramic displayed the expected piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties using the complex structure (i.e., piezoelectric constant achieved 60 pC/N). After being integrated into an ultrasonic device, the 3D-printed component also presents promising material performance and output power properties for ultrasound sensing (i.e., output voltage reached 180 mVpp). Our study demonstrated the effectiveness of AM technology in fabricating piezoelectric composites with complex structures that cannot be fabricated by dicing-filling. The approach may bring more possibilities to the fabrication of micro-electromechanical system (MEMS)-based ultrasonic devices via 3D-printing methods in the future.

Current Status of Liquid Metal Printing

“…The review by Zhangwei Chen et al is an excellent and comprehensive overview of 3D printing of ceramics [32]. Functional composite materials, e.g., piezoelectric ceramic composites, have been printed via several methods including a BaTiO 3 -based ceramic composite via digital light processing (a technique similar to stereolithography) [33]; a polyvinylidene fluoride composite loaded with BaTiO 3 nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes printed through FFF [34]; and Pb(Zr x Ti 1-x )O 3 (PZT) ceramics by the selective laser sintering (SLS) method [35]. Selective laser sintering/melting (SLS/SLM) is a popular method of printing ceramic components.…”

Ultrasound‐Powered Implants: A Critical Review of Piezoelectric Material Selection and Applications

“…3D printed BaTiO 3 composites in honeycomb structures and found enhanced piezoelectric properties when compared to brick structures produced in a similar fashion. [ 285 ]…”

4D Printing of Lead Zirconate Titanate Piezoelectric Composites Transducer Based on Direct Ink Writing

“…However, there is a lack of exploration of the performance changes caused by the special structure of piezoelectric composites. Zeng et al (2020) printed 1-3 BTO piezoelectric composite with honeycomb structure through 4D printing by combining BTO material with DLP technology. The structure can increase the acoustic performance of the piezoelectric ceramic, realize the function of ultrasonic sensing.…”