Development of piezoelectric ceramics and composites via SFF techniques for transducers

Piezoelectric ceramics and ceramic/polymer composites with novel designs were fabricated using various Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) or Rapid Prototyping (RP) techniques. SFF techniques are used to develop and optimize numerous objects with simple and complex shapes without using any part specific tools or dies. Fused Deposition of Ceramics (FDC) and Sanders Prototyping (SP) were used to develop lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) ceramics and ceramic/polymer composites via: (1) direct fabrication and (2) indirect fabrication routes using (a) lost mold and (b) soft tooling. Among the various ceramics and composites processed via the direct and indirect processes were: 3D honeycomb, ladder, annular, rods, and various oriented PZT fiber composites. Annular array composites with volume fraction gradients were also successfully developed and their electromechanical properties were determined. This paper reviews several commercially available Rapid Prototyping techniques and processing routes for design, development and optimization of piezoelectric ceramics and ceramic/polymer composites for transducers and actuators applications.