PZT/PZT and PZT/BiT Composite Piezo-Sensors in Aerospace SHM Applications: Photochemical Metal Organic + Infiltration Deposition and Characterization

The composition of fine-ground lead zirconate-titanate powder Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3, suspended in PZT and bismuth titanate (BiT) solutions, is deposited on the curved surface of IN718 and IN738 nickel-based supper alloy substrates up to 100 µm thickness. Photochemical metal organic and infiltration techniques are implemented to produce smooth, semi-dense, and crack-free random orientated thick piezoelectric films as piezo-sensors, free of any dopants or thickening polymers. Every single layer of the deposited films is heated at 200 °C with 10 wt.% excess PbO, irradiated by ultraviolet lamp (365 nm, 6 watt) for 10 min, pyrolyzed at 400 °C, and subsequently annealed at 700 °C for one hour. This process is repeated successively until reaching the desired thickness. Au and Pt thin films are deposited as the bottom and top electrodes using evaporation and sputtering methods, respectively. PZT/PZT and PZT/BiT composite films are then characterized and compared to similar PZT and BiT thick films deposited on the similar substrates. The effect of the composition and deposition process is also investigated on the crystalline phase development and microstructure morphology as well as the dielectric, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric properties of piezo-films. The maximum remnant polarization of Pr = 22.37 ± 0.01, 30.01 ± 0.01 µC/cm2, the permittivity of εr = 298 ± 3, 566 ± 5, and piezoelectric charge coefficient of d33 = 126, 148 m/V were measured versus the minimum coercive field of Ec = 50, 20 kV/cm for the PZT/PZT and PZT/BiT thick films, respectively. The thick film piezo-sensors are developed to be potentially used at frequency bandwidth of 1–5 MHz for rotary structural health monitoring and also in other industrial or medical applications as a transceiver.

[1]  Paula M. Vilarinho,et al.  Thickness effect on the dielectric, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric properties of ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate thin films , 2010 .

[2]  Michael Sayer,et al.  Thick ceramic coatings using a sol gel based ceramic-ceramic 0–3 composite , 1995 .

[3]  Javier Pérez de la Cruz.  Preparation and characterization of ferroelectric PZT films for electromechanical and memory applications , 2004 .

[4]  Paula M. Vilarinho,et al.  Characterization of seeded sol–Gel lead zirconate titanate thin films , 1999 .

[5]  Hamidreza Hoshyarmanesh,et al.  Design and Implementation of an Accurate, Portable, and Time-Efficient Impedance-Based Transceiver for Structural Health Monitoring , 2017, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

[6]  M. Prudenziati,et al.  Elastic surface wave devices based on piezoelectric thick-films , 1996, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[7]  Hamidreza Hoshyarmanesh,et al.  Structural health monitoring of rotary aerospace structures based on electromechanical impedance of integrated piezoelectric transducers , 2018 .

[8]  Shuren Zhang,et al.  Characterization of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin film prepared by pulsed laser deposition , 2003 .

[9]  C. T. Shelton,et al.  Development of perovskite thin films for use in piezoelectric based microelectromechanical systems , 2009 .

[10]  T. C. Goel,et al.  Mechanical and electrical properties of PZT ceramics (Zr:Ti = 0.40:0.60) related to Nd3+ addition , 1999 .

[11]  Paula M. Vilarinho,et al.  PZT-based piezoelectric composites via a modified sol–gel route , 2001 .

[13]  S. Na,et al.  A technique for electro-mechanical impedance method on peak free frequency domain , 2011 .

[14]  D. Xia,et al.  Fabrication and electrical properties of lead zirconate titanate thick films by the new sol–gel method , 2001 .

[15]  Patrice Le Moal,et al.  A piezo-mechanical characterization of PZT thick films screen-printed on alumina substrate , 2002 .

[16]  Helen L. W. Chan,et al.  Nanocomposite ultrasonic hydrophones , 1999 .

[17]  Bing Li,et al.  Quantitative identification of delamination at different interfaces using guided wave signals in composite laminates , 2015 .

[18]  Jari Juuti,et al.  Characterization and modelling of 3D piezoelectric ceramic structures with ATILA software , 2005 .

[19]  K.K. Li,et al.  Micromachined high frequency ferroelectric sonar transducers , 1997, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[20]  Vijay K. Varadan,et al.  Dielectric and piezoelectric properties of microwave sintered PZT , 2001 .

[21]  Daniel J. Inman,et al.  Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting , 2011 .

[22]  Aili Ding,et al.  Preparation of PZT(53/47) thick films deposited by a dip-coating process , 2003 .

[23]  Nicolas Ledermann,et al.  {1 0 0}-Textured, piezoelectric Pb(Zrx, Ti1−x)O3 thin films for MEMS: integration, deposition and properties , 2003 .

[24]  Hamidreza Hoshyarmanesh,et al.  Electrical properties of UV-irradiated thick film piezo-sensors on superalloy IN718 using photochemical metal organic deposition , 2016 .

[25]  J. D. L. Cruz,et al.  Piezoelectric Thick Films: Preparation and Characterization , 2012 .

[26]  Mehdi Salehi,et al.  Thickness and thermal processing contribution on piezoelectric characteristics of Pb(Zr-Ti)O3 thick films deposited on curved IN738 using sol–gel technique , 2015 .

[27]  Mehdi Salehi,et al.  Piezoelectric Transducers on Curved Dispersive Bending Wave and Poke-Charged Touch Screens , 2014 .

[28]  Helen L. W. Chan,et al.  PZT ceramic/ceramic 0-3 nanocomposite films for ultrasonic transducer applications , 2000 .

[29]  Firas Akasheh,et al.  Development of piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers , 2004 .

[30]  Paula M. Vilarinho,et al.  Electrical properties of lead zirconate titanate thick films prepared by hybrid sol–gel method with multiple infiltration steps , 2007 .

[31]  Masayuki Yamane,et al.  Preparation of Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.47)O3 Thick Films by an Interfacial Polymerization Method on Silicon Substrates and Their Electric and Piezoelectric Properties , 2000 .

[32]  Hamidreza Hoshyarmanesh,et al.  Poling Process of Composite Piezoelectric Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring: A Pilot Comparative Study , 2018, IEEE Sensors Letters.

[33]  M. Sayer,et al.  Piezoelectric thick film ultrasonic transducers fabricated by a sol-gel spray technique. , 2002, Ultrasonics.

[34]  J. A. G Temple,et al.  Engineering applications of ultrasonic time-of-flight diffraction , 1989 .

[35]  Victor Giurgiutiu,et al.  Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors – PWAS Transducers , 2014 .

[36]  Jungho Ryu,et al.  Piezoelectric and Magnetoelectric Thick Films for Fabricating Power Sources in Wireless Sensor Nodes , 2009, Sensors.

[37]  E. Thomsen,et al.  Investigation of Top/Bottom Electrode and Diffusion Barrier Layer for PZT Thick Film MEMS Sensors , 2007, 2007 IEEE Sensors.

[38]  R. Dorey,et al.  Effect of sintering aid and repeated sol infiltrations on the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of a PZT composite thick film , 2002 .