Studies on the dimensional and piezoelectric characteristics of 3D printed piezoelectric structures

Abstract

Ceramic materials are widely used in the fields of energy conversion, sensor, and actuator according to their mechanical, chemical, electrical, and piezoelectric characteristics. Piezoelectric ceramics are major materials for the development of sensors. The increasing demands of methods capable of fabricating a complex structure of piezoelectric ceramics lead to a development of various ceramic 3D printing technologies. In this study, the optimized 3D printing technologies for fabrication of piezoelectric materials were developed based on the studies on the dimensional, mechanical, and piezoelectric properties of 3D printed piezoelectric structures. The characteristics of suspensions such as viscosity, particle size distribution, and printability, and properties of printed samples such as the structure, phase constitution, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties were investigated. This study contributes to the understanding of 3D printing processes of piezoelectric ceramics.