Electrical properties mechanical stress

Because of its piezoelectric properties, synthetic CC-quartz is used for frequency control in electrical oscillators and filters and in electromechanical transducers. When mechanically stressed in the correct direction, CC-quartz develops an electric polarization. The opposite is also tme an applied electric field gives rise to a mechanical distortion in the crystal. Thin sections of quartz are cut to dimensions that produce the desired resonance frequency when subjected to an alternating electric field the vibrating crystal then reacts with the driving circuit to produce an oscillation that can be narrowly controlled. Quartz is ideal for this application because it is hard, durable, readily synthesized, and can be tuned to high accuracy, for example, quartz crystal clocks can be made that are stable to one part in 109. 

Piezoelectric materials are materials that exhibit a linear relationship between electric and mechanical variables. The direct piezoelectric effect can be described as the ability of materials to convert mechanical stress into an electric field and the reverse, to convert an electric field into a mechanical stress. The use of the piezoelectric effect in sensors is based upon the latter property. 

Piezoelectric materials are materials that exhibit a linear relationship between electric and mechanical variables. Electric polarization is proportional to mechanical stress. The direct piezoelectric effect can be described as the ability of materials to convert mechanical stress into an electric field, and the reverse, to convert an electric field into a mechanical stress. The use of the piezoelectric effect in sensors is based on the latter property. For materials to exhibit the piezoelectric effect, the materials must be anisotropic and electrically poled ie, there must be a spontaneous electric field maintained in a particular direction throughout the material. A key feature of a piezoelectric material involves this spontaneous electric field and its disappearance above the Curie point. Only solids without a center of symmetry show this piezoelectric effect, a third-rank tensor property (14,15). 

Two types of contributions to dielectric and piezoelectric properties of ferroelectric ceramics are usually distinguished [6], [9-12], One type is called an intrinsic contribution, and it is due to the distortion of the crystal lattice under an applied electric field or a mechanical stress. The second type is called an extrinsic contribution, and it results from the motion of domain walls or domain switching [8], To provide an understanding of material properties of pzt, several methods to separate the intrinsic and extrinsic contributions were proposed. These methods are indirect, and are based on measurements of the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of ferroelectric ceramics [8], [10-12], In the experiments reported in this paper a different approach is adopted, which is based on measurements of high-resolution synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. The shift in the positions of the diffraction peaks under applied electric field gives the intrinsic lattice deformation, whereas the domain switching can be calculated from the change in peak intensities [13,14],... 

Electrorheological (ER) fluids are materials whose rheological properties (viscosity, yield stress, shear modulus, etc.) can be readily controlled using an external electric field. For example, in some cases, they can switch from a liquid-like material to a solid-like material within a millisecond with the aid of an electric field, by means of the so-called ER effect.1617 The unique feature of the ER effect is that ER fluids can reversibly and continuously change from a liquid state to a solid state. ER fluid research is focused mainly on the automotive and robotics industry as electrical and mechanical interfaces for applications such as clutches, brakes, damping devices, fuel injection, and hydraulic valves. However, more recently, there is growing... 

A limited number of pyroelectric materials have the additional property that the direction of the polarization can be changed by an applied electric field or mechanical stress. Where the change is primarily due to an electric field the material is said to be ferroelectric when it is primarily due to a stress it is said to be ferroelastic. These additional features of a pyroelectric material cannot be predicted from crystal structure and have to be established by experiment. 

Nanotube nanocomposites with a large number of polymer matrices have been reported in the recent years. The composites were synthesized in order to enhance mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of the conventional polymers so as to expand their spectrum of applications. Different synthesis route have also been developed in order to achieve nanocomposites. The generated morphology in the composites and the resulting composite properties were reported to be affected by the nature of the polymer, nature of the nanotube modification, synthesis process, amount of the inorganic filler etc. The following paragraphs review the nanocomposites structures and properties reported in a few of these reports and also stress upon the future potential of nanotube nanocomposites. 

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