Improvements on PLZT cymbal hydrophone

In this paper, a kind of PLZT (Lanthanum-Modified Lead Zirconate Titanate) ceramic is introduced. Compare to the common ceramic PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate), the PLZT ceramic exhibits excellent piezoelectric and dielectric properties. These properties will let the cymbal hydrophone made by PLZT have stable performance but lower sensitivity. In order to improve the inadequacy, Some changes had been made, the PLZT ceramic disk radius was reduced, the thickness of which was increased, and its boundary had been sealed. Later, the improved and original PLZT cymbal hydrophones were analyzed by finite element method, and the calibrations of prototype were carried in water pool. The results show that the receiving sensitivity of the improved PLZT cymbal hydrophones are higher than those originals and the frequency response still keep flat within 18 K band. It means the improved PLZT cymbal hydrophones have more superiority than those originals.