Experimental Study of Effect of Temperature Variations on the Impedance Signature of PZT Sensors for Fatigue Crack Detection

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is recognized as an efficient tool to interpret the reliability of a wide variety of infrastructures. To identify the structural abnormality by utilizing the electromechanical coupling property of piezoelectric transducers, the electromechanical impedance (EMI) approach is preferred. However, in real-time SHM applications, the monitored structure is exposed to several varying environmental and operating conditions (EOCs). The previous study has recognized the temperature variations as one of the serious EOCs that affect the optimal performance of the damage inspection process. In this framework, an experimental setup is developed in current research to identify the presence of fatigue crack in stainless steel (304) beam using EMI approach and estimate the effect of temperature variations on the electrical impedance of the piezoelectric sensors. A regular series of experiments are executed in a controlled temperature environment (25°C–160°C) using 202 V1 Constant Temperature Drying Oven Chamber (Q/TBXR20-2005). It has been observed that the dielectric constant ε₃₃^T which is recognized as the temperature-dependent constant of PZT sensor has sufficiently influenced the electrical impedance signature. Moreover, the effective frequency shift (EFS) approach is optimized in term of significant temperature compensation for the current impedance signature of PZT sensor relative to the reference signature at the extended frequency bandwidth of the developed measurement system with better outcomes as compared to the previous literature work. Hence, the current study also deals efficiently with the critical issue of the width of the frequency band for temperature compensation based on the frequency shift in SHM. The results of the experimental study demonstrate that the proposed methodology is qualified for the damage inspection in real-time monitoring applications under the temperature variations. It is capable to exclude one of the major reasons of false fault diagnosis by compensating the consequence of elevated temperature at extended frequency bandwidth in SHM.     

A coupled zigzag theory for the dynamics of piezoelectric hybrid cross-ply plates

A recently developed coupled third-order zigzag theory for the statics of piezoelectric hybrid cross-ply plates is extended to dynamics. The theory combines a third-order zigzag approximation for the in-plane displacements and a sub-layerwise linear approximation for the electric potential, considering all components of the electric field. The nonuniform variation of the transverse displacement due to the piezoelectric field is accounted for. The conditions for the absence of shear traction at the top and bottom surfaces and continuity of transverse shear stresses in the presence of electromechanical loading are satisfied exactly, thereby reducing the number of displacement variables to five, which is the same as in a first- or third-order equivalent single-layer theory. The governing equations of motion are derived from the extended Hamilton's principle. The theory is assessed by comparing the Navier solutions for the free and forced harmonic vibration response of simply supported plates with the exact three-dimensional piezoelasticity solutions. Comparisons for hybrid test, composite and sandwich plates establish that the present theory is quite accurate for the dynamic response of moderately thick plates.     

Electromechanical control of vibration on a plate submitted to a non-ideal excitation

This paper deals with the enhancement of electromechanical control of vibration on a thin plate submitted to non-ideal excitation. Modelling of the systems displays the non-ideal source used as external excitation above the structure on a particular surface and control force acting at specific points under the structure. The electromechanical device is composed by a RL circuit with a saturated inductance and stings connected to the plate is used as connection between the structure and the controller. Routh–Hurwitz criteria are used to obtain the stability condition of the controlled system and some dynamics exploration leads us to the condition for which the amplitude of vibration is reduced in the mechanical structure.     

Electromechanical coupled nonlinear dynamics for microbeams

In this paper, an electromechanical coupled nonlinear dynamic equation of a microbeam under an electrostatic force is presented. Using the nonlinear dynamic equations and perturbation method, we investigated nonlinear free vibrations, forced responses far from and near to natural frequency, respectively. Nonlinear natural frequencies and vibrating amplitudes of the electromechanical coupled microbeam are dependent on the mechanical and electric parameters. Compared with linear forced responses, the obvious shift of the mean dynamic response occurs. Under certain condition, the jump phenomenon will occur. The studies can be used to design parameters of the microbeam and remove undesirable dynamic behavior such as jump phenomenon, etc.     

A continuum analysis of charge induced ferroelectric domain wall motions

A continuum model is presented for the motion of a domain wall in a plane 90°-domain configuration subjected to an isolated extrinsic charge near the surface of a ferroelectric single crystal. Local pinning is postulated for the kinetic law. Before the appearance of the extrinsic charge, all polarization surface charges are taken to be neutralized by environmental charges. The domain wall motion after the appearance of the extrinsic charge is assumed to proceed sufficiently fast without any significant conductive currents on the surface or in the interior of the crystal such that new surface and interface polarization charges remain unscreened and contribute to the ferroelectric anisotropy energy. A non-admissible divergence of the electric field and consequently of the local thermodynamic driving force and of the domain wall velocity appears in the model if the domain wall charged by interface polarization charges intersects the crystal surface charged by surface polarization charges under an arbitrary angle. The physically possible domain wall angle is identified using the condition of a non-divergent driving force. The ferroelectric anisotropy energy and an intrinsic surface energy of the domain wall, however, do not provide stability of the domain wall trajectory against an unlimited increase of its curvature at the surface. The problem has been solved conceptually by proper account of the domain wall bending energy. Numerical and dimensional analysis explain also why domain walls driven by extrinsic charges remain almost straight in soft ferroelectrics.     

微通道冷却器的数值分析

微通道热沉是制作在硅芯片基底背面的微细通道,其水力直径范围为10～1 000 μm.微通道具有高表面积-体积比、低热阻、低流量等特点,是一种高效散热的解决方案.一个典型应用是激光二极管列阵的致冷.然而,微通道里流体的状态和传热与宏观状态相比有很大不同,有必要开展进一步研究.论文采用商业软件CoventorWareTM建立一个平板式微通道的有限元模型,据此对微通道中流体状态及传热进行了数值计算,获得了单个微通道中流场和温度的分布.结果表明,对于2 000 μm×50 μm×500 μm的微通道,能够对500 W/cm2的热通量快速散热,热阻仅有0.042 3 K/(W·cm-2).     

Unusual domain evolution in semiconducting ferroelectrics: A phase field study

The effect of electrical conductivity on the domain evolution of semiconducting ferroelectrics is investigated using a phase field model which includes the drift of space charges. Phase field simulations show that the tail-to-tail 90° charged domain wall appears during the domain formation in the semiconducting ferroelectrics at zero field, which is prohibited in common insulating ferroelectrics. Due to the screening of polarization charges, the domain switching takes place through the motion of head-to-head 180° charged domain wall in the semiconducting single-domain ferroelectrics subjected to an electric field. Comparing to the insulating ferroelectrics, the semiconducting ferroelectrics have a lower speed of domain evolution due to the decrease of mobility of charged domain walls. The response of semiconducting ferroelectrics to a mechanical load is also found different from that of insulating ferroelectrics.     

Experimental study and electromechanical model analysis of the nonlinear deformation behavior of IPMC actuators

This paper develops analytical electromechanical formulas to predict the mechanical deformation of ionic polymer–metal composite(IPMC) cantilever actuators under DC excitation voltages. In this research, IPMC samples with Pt and Ag electrodes were manufactured, and the large nonlinear deformation and the effect of curvature on surface electrode resistance of the IPMC samples were investigated experimentally and theoretically. A distributed electrical model was modified for calculating the distribution of voltage along the bending actuator. Then an irreversible thermodynamic model that could predict the curvature of a unit part of an IPMC actuator is combined with the electrical model so that an analytical electromechanical model is developed. The electromechanical model is then validated against the experimental results obtained from Pt-and Ag-IPMC actuators under various excitation voltages. The good agreement between the electromechanical model and the actuators shows that the analytical electromechanical model can accurately describe the large nonlinear quasi-static deflection behavior of IPMC actuators.     

Transverse surface waves in a layered structure with a functionally graded piezoelectric substrate and a hard dielectric layer

As to an ideally layered structure with a functionally graded piezoelectric substrate (material parameters change continuously along the thickness direction) and a hard dielectric layer, the existence and propagation behavior of transverse surface waves is studied by analytical technique. The dispersion equations for the existence of the transverse surface waves with respect to phase velocity are obtained for electrically open and short circuit conditions, respectively. A detailed investigation of the effect of gradient coefficient on dispersion relation, electromechanical coupling factor and penetration depth is carried out. It is found by numerical examples that adjusting gradient coefficient makes the electromechanical coupling factor of the transverse surface waves achieve quite high values at some appropriate ratio values of the layer thickness to the wavelength, and at the same time, the penetration depth can be reduced to the same order as the wavelength.     

Non-linear electromechanical response of 1–3 type piezocomposites

Domain switching in piezoelectric materials is caused by external loads such as electric field and stress that leads to non-linear behaviour. A study is carried out to compare the non-linear behaviour of 1–3 piezocomposites with different volume fractions and bulk piezoceramics. Experiments are conducted to measure the electrical displacement and strain on piezocomposites and bulk ceramics under high cyclic electrical loading and constant compressive prestress. A thermodynamically consistent uni-axial framework is developed to predict the nonlinear behaviour by combining the phenomenological and micromechanical techniques. Volume fractions of three distinct uni-axial variants (instead of six variants) are used as internal variables to describe the microscopic state of the material. In this model, the grain boundary effects are taken into account by introducing the back fields (electric field and stress) as non-linear kinematic hardening functions. An analytical model based on equivalent layered approach is used to calculate effective properties such as elastic, piezoelectric, and dielectric constants for different volume fractions of piezocomposites. The predicted effective properties are incorporated in the proposed uni-axial model and the dielectric hysteresis (electrical displacement versus electric field) as well as butterfly curves (strain versus electric field) are simulated. Comparison between the experiments and simulations show that this model can reproduce the characteristics of non-linear response. It is observed that the variation in fiber volume fraction and compressive stress has a significant influence on the response of the 1–3 piezocomposites.