The study of composite effects of functional ceramics and its potential applications

Functional ceramics have come into a new era with the concept that materials may exhibit combined effects or various functional properties which can be composed together to form a new material, device or system. Several examples which are now being studied and developed are introduced: Ceramic damping and acoustic dumb devices through piezoelectric+electrostrictive; Optical memory devices developed by photovoltaic+ferroelectric; Pyroelectric transformers taking advantage of PTC+pyroelectric; Pyroelectric energy converters obtained by induced phase transitions (F/sub RI//F/sub RH/); Smart actuators by induce phase transition effects. Principles and experimental results are discussed.