3–1-type PZT-based porous ceramic and composites with highly oriented pore structure for acoustic applications

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 33; no. 15; pp. 12171 - 12181
• Main Authors: Qiu, Haiqing, Sun, Huajun, Liu, Xiaofang, Sui, Huiting, Huang, Duanping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.05.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acoustic impedance; Acoustic properties; Acoustics; Butanol; Ceramics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composite materials; Lead zirconate titanates; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Piezoelectric ceramics; Porosity; Tissues
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-022-08177-x

Pure tert-butyl alcohol as vehicle was used to fabricate 3–1-type porous lead zirconate titanate ceramics (3–1-type porous PZT ceramics) and lead zirconate titanate/epoxy (PZT/epoxy) composites by freeze-casting. 3–1-type porous PZT ceramics with porosity ranging from 47.32 to 75.41% are obtained by varying initial solid loading in freeze-casting slurry. With the increase of porosity, piezoelectric properties exhibited small decline. The piezoelectric coefficient ( d 33 ) is 688 pC/N, which almost as same as the bulk piezoelectric ceramics although the porosity is up to 63.05%. The special 3–1-type porous structure promotes the polarization and pushes the domain deflected, which enhances the piezoelectric, dielectric, and acoustic properties greatly. After filling epoxy into the unidirectional channel, the piezoelectric properties decreased slightly while the mechanical property of composites is 2–3 times higher than 3–1-type porous PZT ceramics. The acoustic impedance value ( Z ) of 3–1-type porous PZT ceramics and composites reach to 2.918 and 6.03 MRayls, respectively. These values are much lower than dense PZT phase (16 MRayls) and conducive to improve the acoustic matching with water and biological tissue.