Modeling and characterization of active fiber composites

Alberto Belloli; Benedetto Castelli; Xavier Kornmann; Christian Huber; Paolo Ermanni

doi:10.1117/12.539871

26 July 2004 Modeling and characterization of active fiber composites

Alberto Belloli, Benedetto Castelli, Xavier Kornmann, Christian Huber, Paolo Ermanni

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5390, Smart Structures and Materials 2004: Smart Structures and Integrated Systems; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.539871
Event: Smart Structures and Materials, 2004, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The scientific community has put significant efforts in the manufacturing of sensors and actuators made of piezoceramic fibers with interdigitated electrodes. These allow for increased conformability and actuation capability at high field regime. The prediction of their coupled field behavior, however, is so far limited to low field applications, where the piezoelectric coupling coefficient is assumed to be constant. An approach, which takes into account the strain driven nonlinearity of a representative work cycle at high field regime is still lacking. This study presents a nonlinear Finite Element Model to simulate the free strain properties of Active Fiber Composites (AFCs) under high electric field conditions. Input data for the fully parametric model are the Representative Volume Element (RVE) geometry and the material properties of its piezoceramic and epoxy resin components. The high field properties of single PZT fibers under free strain conditions were determined using a novel characterization procedure. Free strain properties of the actuators were measured experimentally, and important geometrical parameters (contact angle between the fiber and the electrode, average spacing between the fibers) were measured using micrographical imaging. The results of the simulation show good agreement with the free strain measurements, allowing for prediction of a representative work cycle hysteresis. The influence of important geometrical parameters on the actuator properties such as electrode spacing and electrode-fiber contact angle was investigated both numerically and experimentally.

Citation Download Citation

Alberto Belloli, Benedetto Castelli, Xavier Kornmann, Christian Huber, and Paolo Ermanni "Modeling and characterization of active fiber composites", Proc. SPIE 5390, Smart Structures and Materials 2004: Smart Structures and Integrated Systems, (26 July 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.539871

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