Ceramics, Piezoelectric and Electrostrictive

AbstractIn a rapidly developing world, the use of smart materials becomes increasingly important when executing sophisticated functions within a designed device. In a common definition, smart materials differ from ordinary materials because they can perform two or several functions, sometimes with a useful correlation or feedback mechanism between them. For piezoelectric or electrostrictive materials, this means that the same component may be used for both sensor and actuator functions. Piezoelectric/electrostrictive sensors convert a mechanical variable (displacement or force) into a measurable electrical quantity by the piezoelectric/electrostrictive effect. Alternately, the actuator converts an electrical signal into a useful displacement or force. Typically, the term transducer is used to describe a component that serves actuator (transmitting) and sensor (receiving) functions. Because piezoelectrics and electrostrictors inherently possess both direct (sensor) and converse (actuator) effects, they can be considered smart materials. The degree of smartness can vary in piezoelectric/electrostrictive materials. A merely smart material (only sensor and actuator functions) can often be engineered into a “very smart” tunable device or further, into an “intelligent structure” whose sensor and actuator functions are intercorrelated with an integrated processing chip.Recent growth in the transducer market has been rapid and, it is predicted will continue on its current pace through the turn of the century. Piezoelectric/electrostrictive sensors and actuators comprise a significant portion of the transducer market. There is a growing trend due especially to automobile production, active vibration damping, and medical imaging. In this article, the principles of piezoelectric/electrostrictive sensors and actuators are considered along with the properties of the most useful materials and examples of successful devices.