Woven PZT ceramic/polymer composites for transducer applications

A replication process was used to fabricate woven PZT/polymer composites. Fabric templates consisting of woven carbon fiber were impregnated with PZT by soaking it in a solution containing stoichiometric amounts of dissolved lead, zirconium, titanium and niobium. Heat treatment burned out the carbon, leaving a PZT replica with the same form as the initial carbon weave. To form composites, replicas were sintered in a controlled atmosphere and backfilled with epoxy polymer. The process was attempted with as-received activated and nonactivated carbon fabrics, as well as those fabrics pretreated with hydrogen peroxide. Average d₃₃=90 pC/N, g ₃₃=211 mV-m/N, and d_hg_h hydrophone figure of merit of 2100×10^-15 m² /N are reported for woven PZT/polymer composites