DESIGN FOR AE TRANSDUCER BY 1-3 PIEZOELECTRIC COMPOSITE

This paper reports the results of work on PZT/polymer 1-3 connectivity composites for solid ultrasonic applications, especially for AE transducers, in non-destructive inspection. A high sensitivity AE transducer employing PZT/polymer 1-3 composite was developed. Type 1-3 composite was fabricated using a ''cutting and filling'' technique : a poled PZT disk was cut into a large number of small rods. The inter rods spaces were then filled with polyurethane. For the evaluation of piezoelectric characteristics, composites with 40 vol% PZT were made with values of g33 four times large than the solid PZT values. The AE transducer had a higher sensitivity than a conventional type AE transducer.