Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S. in Physics

Department

Physics and Astronomy

First Advisor

Igor Ostrovskii

Second Advisor

Lucien M. Cremaldi

Third Advisor

Luca Bombelli

Relational Format

dissertation/thesis

Abstract

PZT-5H is a ferroelectric and piezoelectric material that has many applications that are the subjects of current research. As a ferroelectric, PZT-5H has a permanent electrical polarization that arises from ferroelectric domains. In this thesis, numerical simulations were conducted via the well know Finite Element Method of several types of piezoelectric cantilevers that were made of PIC-181, a high quality PZT-5H made in Germany. Single crystal cantilever models with multiple polarization vectors were investigated with Q factors ranging from Q = 50 to Q = 1200, where the acoustical displacements were calculated. Further, the displacements were calculated for a multidomain cantilever model with inversely poled domains and uniform electrode configuration as well as a single crystal cantilever model with uniformly poled crystal and bipolar electrode configuration. It was shown that cantilevers that are less oblong in shape could benefit from the bipolar electrode configuration in applications where size may be an important parameter, for instance in small flying robotic insects. From the experimental measurements of the resonance and anti-resonance frequencies in various PIC-181 samples, the radial and longitudinal components of speed of sound in material were calculated. Experimental results of longitudinal speed of sound differed from the accepted value of 4.6 km/s by 1.6 % error.

Included in

Physics Commons

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