Interdigitated electrodes(IDEs) piezoelectric fiber composites is one kind of new smart materials which can be used as actuators in many applications because of its unique properties such as high induced stain and easy integration on curved surface of the base structure. In this paper, basic theories about composite were introduced briefly firstly. Then Electrostatic Field of this special electrode was analyzed. Finally, Finite Element Method is employed to numerically research the influence of thickness and material constants of polymer around electrodes, volume ratio of fibers and dimension of electrodes on the composite's induced strain and stress. The results show that the actuating strain and stress of interdigitated electrodes piezoelectric fiber composites can be improved much by employing polymer having high dielectric constant or decreasing the thickness of the polymer around IDEs. In addition, much higher induced strain and stress can be got by decreasing period of IDEs or increasing width of IDEs and volume ratio of fibers among the composite. At last, the maximum strain (280με) was got from the numeric model of optimized samples, which is very large considering composite is not pure PZT ceramics.

Date Published: 1 November 2007
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 6423, International Conference on Smart Materials and Nanotechnology in Engineering, 64235X (1 November 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.780360

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6423:
International Conference on Smart Materials and Nanotechnology in Engineering
Shanyi Du; Jinsong Leng; Anand K. Asundi, Editor(s)