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Piezoelectric Paint as Spatially Distributed Modal Sensors

C. YANG, C.-P. FRITZEN

Abstract


Piezoelectric materials have gained broad popularity in many fields since their first discovery by the brothers Curie in 1880. Recently, a new piezoelectric composite, the piezoelectric paint has been introduced into the field of structural health monitoring. Piezoelectric paint is a composite piezoelectric material which comprises of tiny piezoceramic particles, polymer resin and other additives. After polarization, it attains piezoelectricity and can be applied as a piezoelectric sensors/actuators. This work explores the application of piezoelectric paint as spatially distributed modal sensors. A spatially shaped modal sensor is a sensor that measures a single mode of a structure and filters the other modes out. Compared with the conventional discrete sensors, the distributed sensors are continuously distributed on the host structure. They are very useful in active control since it reduces the problems of spillover, where high frequency unmodeled modes affect the stability of the closed loop system. In this work, a piezoelectric paint is fabricated. It is flexible, can be applied to almost any structural surface and tailored to any shape. In addition, compared to traditional piezoelectric composites, e.g., PVDF, the polarization profile of the piezoelectric paint is easier to control according to the applications, which are very important for the design of a modal sensor. These advantages make the piezoelectric paint a very promising candidate for a spatially distributed modal sensor.

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