Field-induced piezoelectric materials for 100 kHz-10 MHz transducer applications

Abstract

Several electrostrictive materials were investigated as candidates for high frequency transducer applications. Families investigated included (1-x)Pb(Mg/sub 1/3/Nb/sub 2/3/)O/sub 3/-(x)PbTiO/sub 3/ and PLZT relaxors, and Srand Sn-substituted BaTiO/sub 3/ normal ferroelectrics. The field dependent dielectric, piezoelectric and elastic properties were characterized at frequencies between 100 kHz and 5 MHz. The large magnitude and E-field tunability of the electromechanical and elastic properties observed in several of the materials may present opportunities for several new transducer applications, such as biomedical imaging and non-destructive evaluation.