Quasistatic and dynamic properties of 1–3 composites made by soft molding

The development of the soft mold process allows for the preparation of fine scale 1–3 composites with PZT rods of different size, shape and spacing, which can be used as ultrasonic transducers for frequencies ⩾5 MHz. [Gebhardt, S., Schönecker, A., Steinhausen, R., Hauke, T., Seifert, W. & Beige, H., Fine scale 1-3 composites fabricated by the soft mold process: preparation and modeling. Ferroelectrics, 241 (2000) 67]. By this method, composites with a square, hexagonal and non regular arrangement of PZT rods of different shape have been fabricated and characterized by measuring their quasistatic and dynamic properties. The experimental results were compared with data from finite element method (FEM) modeling and analytical solutions. The vibrational characteristics of the composites were strongly influenced by the rod geometry and the rod arrangement. To evaluate the 1–3 composite performance, modal analysis and modeling of the impedance spectrum were carried out using the FEM package ANSYS.