Outputs of shock-loaded small piezoceramic disks

Thin small-diameter polycrystalline Lead-Zirconate-Titanate piezoceramic disks were shock loaded in the D-33 orientation over a stress range of 0.1-30 GPa. Their electrical outputs were discharged into 50 Omega viewing resistors, producing typically 0.15 mus quasi-triangular impulses ranging from 50-700 V. The gas gun flat plate impact approach and the high explosives (HE) plane wave lens approach were used to load piezoceramic elements. These piezoceramic elements consisted of 0.25 mm thick and 1.32 mm diameter disks that were ultrasonically machined from 25 mm piezocrystal disks of type APC 850, commercially produced by American Piezo Ceramic Inc. To facilitate our experiments, the piezoceramic elements were coaxially mounted at the tip of a 2.35 mm diameter brass tube, an arrangement that is commercialized by Dynasen, Inc. under the name Piezopin of model CA-1136. Simple calculations on the electrical outputs produced by these piezoceramic disks reveal electrical outputs in excess of 3000 W. Such short bursts of electrical energy have the potential for numerous applications where critical timing is needed to observe fast transient events.