Research progress of high-temperature piezoelectric vibration sensors and piezoelectric materials

Vibration sensor technology, especially piezoelectric vibration sensor, has been widely applied in various fields. This type of sensor has excellent dynamic response, linearity, wide bandwidth, high sensitivity, large temperature range, simple structure, and stable performance, so it can be applied in many cases such as nuclear power, aerospace, rail transportation, and defense industries. However, most of piezoelectric vibration sensors are limited to operating temperatures below 500., which restricts their applications in extreme high-temperature environments encountered in nuclear reactors, aircraft engines, missile systems, and internal combustion engines. How to improve the operating temperature of piezoelectric vibration sensors to meet their application requirements in extreme environments is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. High-temperature piezoelectric materials, as the core components of piezoelectric vibration sensors, play a decisive role in determining the overall performance of the sensor. Common high-temperature piezoelectric materials include piezoelectric ceramics and single crystals. To ensure stable operation and excellent sensitivity in extreme environments, it is essential to select piezoelectric materials with high Curie temperature, high piezoelectric coefficient, high resistivity, and low dielectric loss as the sensing elements of the sensor. There are usually three main types of piezoelectric vibration sensors: bending, compression, and shear. In addition to selecting the suitable piezoelectric material, it is also crucial to choose the optimal sensor structure suitable to the specific application scenarios. In view of the urgent demand for ultrahigh-temperature vibration sensors, this paper mainly reviews the current research progress of high-temperature piezoelectric materials and high-temperature piezoelectric vibration sensors, summarizes the structures, advantages and disadvantages, and application scenarios of different types of high-temperature piezoelectric vibration sensors, explores the current problems and future development trends of high-temperature piezoelectric vibration sensors, and provides ideas for developing the next-generation ultrahigh temperature vibration sensors for extreme environmental applications, which is expected to promote the further development of high-temperature piezoelectric vibration sensing technology.