25.01.2013 Views

Developments in Ceramic Materials Research

Developments in Ceramic Materials Research

Developments in Ceramic Materials Research

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Progress <strong>in</strong> Porous Piezoceramics 227<br />

sensitivity curve is flat for frequencies below 50 kHz. The radial mode resonance appear<strong>in</strong>g at<br />

around 50 kHz is not generally desirable for hydrophone applications, s<strong>in</strong>ce it limits the<br />

operat<strong>in</strong>g frequency band. An ideal hydrophone has a constant receiv<strong>in</strong>g sensitivity over a<br />

wide frequency range [41]. The resonance peaks can be shifted beyond the operat<strong>in</strong>g range by<br />

carefully select<strong>in</strong>g the dimensions of the active elements.<br />

4.2. Model of Porous PZT Discs<br />

The porous PZT has an <strong>in</strong>tricate structure that can not be generated by rotat<strong>in</strong>g the<br />

structure about the symmetric axis and hence a 2-dimensional axisymmetric model is not<br />

useful. Therefore, a 3-dimensional model is required to characterise hydrophones made up of<br />

porous piezoceramics with f<strong>in</strong>ite dimensions.<br />

In modell<strong>in</strong>g piezocomposites, it has been a general practice to model only an unit cell of<br />

the structure, assum<strong>in</strong>g that it is representative of the entire piezocomposite structure [iv].<br />

However <strong>in</strong> certa<strong>in</strong> cases, the results of the unit cell model deviate from the actual values,<br />

especially <strong>in</strong> the determ<strong>in</strong>ation of resonance frequencies [24]. The unit cell model can<br />

correctly predict the resonance frequencies correspond<strong>in</strong>g to the thickness-mode vibrations,<br />

whereas it cannot predict the lateral-mode (radial-mode) resonance frequencies if the lateral<br />

dimensions of the transducers are f<strong>in</strong>ite and comparable to the thickness. Even, the<br />

application of periodic boundary conditions can only simulate the <strong>in</strong>f<strong>in</strong>ite extent of the lateral<br />

dimensions (x-y plane). Further, <strong>in</strong> the case of transducers with f<strong>in</strong>ite dimensions, the<br />

resonance frequency correspond<strong>in</strong>g to the dimension <strong>in</strong> the z-direction depends also on the<br />

dimensions <strong>in</strong> the x- and y- directions [24]. It is therefore necessary to use a real- dimensional<br />

model. However, this <strong>in</strong>volves large computer memory size and prolonged computational<br />

time.<br />

Figure 11. (a) Photograph of the porous PZT disc filled with polymer and (b) 1/4 th of the model used for<br />

FEM.<br />

The porous piezoceramic structure used <strong>in</strong> the f<strong>in</strong>ite element model of a 3-3<br />

piezocomposite is shown <strong>in</strong> Figure 11. This is chosen to be as close to the practical structure

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!