Mechanical clamping by inverse piezoelectric effect to improve the electromechanical coupling effect of a 1-3 PZT/P(VDF-TrFE) composite sheet.

A 1-3 type poly(vinylidene-trifluoroethylene)/lead zirconate titanate (P(VDF-TrFE)/Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃) piezoelectric composite is prepared using a two-step hot-pressing method, showing a considerable dielectric constant (ε_r ~ 4614) and a very low dielectric loss factor (tanδ) of 0.05 and at 100 Hz are obtained in PZT/P(VDF-TrFE) sheet with a thickness of 1.2 mm. Because the polarized P(VDF-TrFE) has a clamping pressure on the engineered columnar architecture by the inverse piezoelectric effect, the elongation of PZT is improved by suppressing its lateral vibrations, which is well expressed by COMSOL simulations. As such, an attractive electrical coupling coefficient (k_t) of 0.733 is achieved with specific geometric modifications to the PZT/P(VDF-TrFE) sheets. These findings indicate that piezoelectric P(VDF-TrFE) to replace conventional epoxy resin as the polymer matrix offers a route to construct 1-3 type piezoelectric composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]