Fabrication of ordered porous PZT

Piezoelectric composites with ‘۳-۳’ connectivity have been developed for several applications suchas acoustic transducers, sonar and medical imaging. The first step is the fabrication of porouspiezoceramic with ۳-D network connectivity. In this study, porous piezoceramic, lead zirconatetitanate, with geometrically ordered porosities was fabricated. The traditional method of thefabrication of piezoceramics with burned-out plastic sphere (BURPS processing) was utilized. Inorder to produce geometrically ordered porosities, the prefabricated regular spheres were arrangedin a mold and PZT paste was injected into the polymeric scaffold. The most crucial step in thesetechniques is the removal of polymeric materials (pyrolysis); therefore thermal treatment must becarried out at sufficiently slow rate to ۴۲۰℃ based on thermal analysis (DTA) of polystyrene.Eventually all specimens were sintered at ۱۲۵۰℃. The OM and SEM micrographs of porouspiezoceramics showed the presence of a porous structure suitable for polymer injection to promote۳-۳ connectivity of both ceramics and polymer, the porous ceramic specimens were then injectedby vinyl ester resin while the whole system was in a partial vacuum chamber. Porosities anddensities of samples were also studied

Keywords:

Ordered pores , Porous ceramics , Piezoceramic , PZT