Behavior of Piezoceramic Projector Materials under Hydrostatic Pressure

Abstract

Experimental work on the effect of hydrostatic pressure on the piezoelectric and high-field dielectric properties of two piezoceramic projector materials is presented. The two materials, a modified barium titanate and modified lead zirconate titanate, are characterized by low dielectric losses at high fields. In the pressure range 0 to 10 000 psi and at nonresonant driving fields up to 3 kV/cm, the variations observed in the permittivity and piezoelectric strain constants with hydrostatic pressure were less than 7%, and no significant variations were found in the dielectric loss. Aging studies at 10 000 psi showed that the permittivity and dielectric loss for both materials reached constant values after a few minutes. Possible mechanisms for the observed effects are discussed.