Al-Mo thin films were fabricated using combinatorial sputtering system to realize highly sensitive surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. The Al-Mo sample library was grown with various chemical compositions and electrical resistivities, which provided important information for selecting the most suitable materials for SAW devices. As the SAWs generated from piezoelectric materials are significantly affected by the resistivity and density of the interdigital transducer (IDT) electrodes, three types of Al-Mo thin films with different Al contents were fabricated. The thickness of the Al-Mo thin film used in the SAW-IDT electrode was fixed at 150 nm. As the Al content of the Al-Mo thin film decreased from 81.2 to 30.3 at%, the resistivity decreased slightly from 5.43±0.15 to 4.87±0.1×10^-5 Ω-cm, whereas the calculated density increased significantly from 4.1 to 7.9 g/㎤. The SAW device composed of Al-Mo IDT electrodes resonated at 143 MHz without frequency shifts; however, the selectivity of the resonant frequency and insertion loss deteriorated as the Al content decreased. This suggest that the resonant characteristics of the SAW devices fabricated with Al-Mo thin films were more strongly influenced by the material density rather than the electrical properties of the IDT electrodes.

The measurement of strain under an electric field has been widely employed to comprehend the fundamental principles of electro-mechanical responses in ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and electrostrictive materials. In particular, understanding the strain properties of piezoelectric materials in response to electrical stimulation is crucial for researching and developing components such as piezoelectric actuators, acoustic devices, and ultrasonic generators. This tutorial paper introduces the components and operational principles of the linear variable differential transducer (LVDT), a widely used displacement measurement device in various industries. Additionally, we present the configuration of an experimental setup using LVDT to measure the strain characteristics of ferroelectric, piezoelectric, or electrostrictive materials under the application of an electric field. This paper includes simple measurement results and analyses obtained through the LVDT experimental setup, providing valuable information on research methods for the electro-mechanical interactions of various materials.

Magnetoelectric (ME) composite is composed of a piezoelectric material and a magnetostrictive material. Among various ME structures, 2-2 type layered ME composites are anticipated to be used as high-sensitivity magnetic field sensors and energy harvesting devices especially operating at its resonance modes. Rosen type piezoelectric transducer using piezoelectric material is known to amplify a small electrical input voltage to a large electrical output voltage. The output voltage of these Rosen type piezoelectric transducers can be further enhanced by modifying them into ME composite structures. Herein, we fabricated Rosen type ME composites by sandwiching Rosen type PMN-PZT single crystal between two Ni layers and studied their ME coupling. However, the voltage step-up ratio at the resonance frequency was found to be smaller than the value calculated with αME value. The ATILA FEA (Finite Elements Analysis) simulation results showed that the position of the nodal point was changed with the presence of a magnetostrictive layer. Thus, while designing a Rosen type ME composite with high performance in a resonant driving situation, it is necessary to optimize the position of the nodal point by optimizing the thickness or length of the magnetostrictive layer.

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a high power piezoelectric ultrasonic surgery unit for multi-purpose dental implantation. A conventional piezoelectric ultrasonic surgery units consists of a transducer and a tip. However, the drawback of this simple structure is that the output performance of the transducer considerably changes with the change of the tips. An ultrasonic surgery unit that has an additional booster between the transducer and the tip can solve this problem to some extent; for this, an optimal structural design for the transducer is required. We used the Bolted Langevin Transducer (BLT) as the basic transducer; it consists of piezoelectric ceramics and a metal body. It`s structure was optimized using mathematical methods to determine the length and radius of the tail and head masses. Additionally, the booster was also subjected to the same methods. Using these mathematical methods, optimal results in terms of the resonance frequency (24.96 kHz), displacement (14.27 ㎛), and pressure (2.8 MPa), could be obtained. The validity of this proposed surgery unit was confirmed experimentally, exhibiting a cutting force of around 7% higher than that of a conventional surgery unit.

In this study, to increase output of road piezoelectric energy harvester, it was made into rack type in which many piezoelectric materials can be installed and load transfer device of the leverage type to transfer vehicle load was made. By paving it in the road, the output characteristics depending on vehicle load and speed were evaluated. Changing vehicle load, harvester output characteristics depending on speed changes were evaluated at the interval of 10 km/h from 10 km/h to 100 km/h. Also, by making a wireless switch and sending wireless signal with output of rack type harvester, whether to receive it was evaluated by distance. It was checked that all switches work up to front-to-back 100 m from harvester.

In this paper, a underwater acoustic Tonpilz transducer with the piezoelectric single crystal(72PMN-28PT) is developed. The thickness and the number of piezoelectric elements are theoretically designed with the equivalent circuit analysis to have the desired resonance frequency. In order to compare the performances, a piezoelectric ceramic transducer is also manufactured and their electrical impedance, TVR (transmitting voltage response), RVS (receiving voltage response) and beam pattern are compared.

A road energy harvester was designed and fabricated to convert mechanical energy from the vehicle load to electrical energy. The road energy harvester is composed of 20 piezoelectric materials. This study attempted to evaluate output depending on pavement materials when paving road piezoelectric energy harvester in the road. Harvester is the bender type and is the method of supporting the both ends of piezoelectric material and applying the load in the middle part. Harvester was paved in the type paved with asphalt, type paved with cement and in the exposed type not covering the top of harvester. The output characteristics were compared and evaluated depending on changes in vehicle load and vehicle speed changes. As vehicles, truck (11.9 ton), SUV(1.6 ton) and sedan (1.5 ton) were used and the output characteristics when driving at the interval of 10 km/h from 10 km/h to 100 km/h were evaluated.

This paper describes the development of a piezoelectric level switch, which aims to effectively monitor the level status in high ambient temperatures. In order to adjust the impedance near the resonant frequency and temperature characteristics, the effect of the case and backing layer materials on its performance was analyzed using the finite element method (FEM). The suggested prototype new level switch has three heat-sink plates attached to SUS bar of 230 mm long, and case of PEEK which contains PZT sensing part. To illustrate the validity of this level switch, 10 samples are prepared and investigated the sensing performance through the high and low temperature ambient.

Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin film and TiN film as a buffer layer were deposited on INCONEL600 substrate by reactive RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature(R.T.) under 25∼75% N2/Aratmosphere. The as-deposited AlN films at 25∼50% N2/Ar showed a polycrystalline phase of hexagonal AlN, and an amorphous phase. The peak of AlN (002) plane, which was determinant on a performance of piezoelectric transducer, became strong with increasing the N2/Ar ratio. Any change in the preferential orientation of the as-deposited AlN films was not observed within our N2 concentration range. The piezoelectric sensing properties of AlN module were performed using pressure-voltage measurement system. The output signal voltage of AlN module showed a linear behavior between 20∼80 mV in 1∼10MPa range, and the pressure-sensing sensitivity was calculated as 3.6 mV/MPa.

This paper describes the development of a piezoelectric flextensional transducer, which aims toeffectively degrade the TCE contained in aqueous solution. In order to adjust the 1st flextensionalresonant frequency and output displacement of the flextensional transducer, the effect of the geometricalvariations on performance was analyzed using the finite element analysis (FEM). The results indicatedthat the effect of external shell`s thickness and curvature were most significant, and experimentalfabrication and characterization of a transducer was performed to confirm the results. To prove the capacity to degrade the TCE contained in aqueous solution, 50 and 100 ppm of TCE were prepared in sealed chamber, and investigated the removal rate of TCE through the time and initial concentration.

On this paper, a circular unimorph-type piezoelectric transducer was proposed and studied. The transducer was fabricated by attaching a circular-shaped PZT ceramic to a circular plate of brass and output characteristics of the fabricated transducer were then analyzed and measured by changing driving points where the mechanical vibrations were applied. Two conditions depending on the location of vibration were respectively defined as a center forced model and an edge forced model. The resonance frequency and output voltage of the models were simulated by using ANSYS, a FEM(finite element method) program. Based on the results of the analyses, the vibration experiment was conducted and the output characteristics then measured through measurement equipment. As a result, the maximum output characteristics of two models were respectively generated at each resonance frequency and the resonance frequency of the center forced model was lower than the edge forced model.