Manufacturing of 1-3 piezocomposite SonoPanel transducers

A manufacturing capability has been established for 1-3 PZT-polymer composite materials and transducers. Uniform arrays of identical PZT rods are formed by a cost-effective ceramic injection molding process. Sintered and poled 1-3 ceramic preforms, containing 361 PZT rods 1.1 mm diameter on a 50 mm square base plate, are arranged to produce 15 or 30 PZT volume percent composite materials with a hard or soft polymeric matrix. More than 2000 identical PZT preforms were produced and more than thirty 250 mm square SonoPanel transducers have been manufactured. The transducers have been found to be well suited for a variety of underwater acoustic applications. Fifteen SonoPanels have been incorporated into a 3 X 5 array as part of a Navy system demonstration.