Simple model for piezoelectric ceramic/polymer 1-3 composites used in ultrasonic transducer applications.

A theoretical model is presented for combining parameters of 1-3 ultrasonic composite materials in order to predict ultrasonic characteristics such as velocity, acoustic impedance, electromechanical coupling factor, and piezoelectric coefficients. Hence, the model allows the estimation of resonance frequencies of 1-3 composite transducers. This model has been extended to cover more material parameters, and they are compared to experimental results up to PZT volume fraction nu of 0.8. The model covers calculation of piezoelectric charge constants d(33) and d(31). Values are found to be in good agreement with experimental results obtained for PZT 7A/Araldite D 1-3 composites. The acoustic velocity, acoustic impedance, and electromechanical coupling factor are predicted and found to be close to the values determined experimentally.