Microstructural Analysis and Mechanical Properties of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 Fibers Derived by Different Processing Routes

Piezoceramic fibers are broadly used for advanced ultrasound transducers and composite sensors and actuators for smart system applications. Different techniques (ALCERU (R) cellulose spinning technique, extrusion, and polysulfone process) have been developed for fiber fabrication, although there is still an essential need to evaluate the mechanical and electromechanical performance of these fibers. In this study, the microstructure and mechanical properties have been investigated for different fibers fabricated by the three routes. Because of the same sintering program, the fibers showed mainly a similar grain size (1-2 mu m) and porosity (2%-6%). A tensile strength up to 72 MPa could be measured for PZT fibers with a diameter of 250 mu m produced by the cellulose spinning technique. The Young's modulus varied between 30 and 60 GPa. Stress-strain deformation showed nonlinearity behavior, which could be attributed to ferroelastic domain switching. The threshold for domain switching (proportional limit) of the deformation curve had decreased by increasing the diameter of the fiber. No correlation between fiber processing and proportional limit could be observed.