Development of Encapsulated PZT-Patches for Adaptive Structures

Abstract

Thin monolithic piezoceramic plates (thickness 100µm and 200µm) represent one active material basis of the industrial research project “Adaptronic” in Germany. These plates are used as structural actuators and sensors for adaptive structures. Significant differences between mechanical and thermal properties of the piezoceramic material demand sophisticated manufacturing techniques to attach the piezoceramic material on metal substrates or to integrate them into carbon fiber composite structures. To meet the different industrial requirements a technology has been developed to pre-encapsulate different kinds of piezoceramic materials to improve the handling of the extremely brittle material for further processing. Besides the mechanical stabilization the encapsulated piezoceramics are electrically insulated and provided with different electrical contacts. Due to their assembly the encapsulated PZT-patches are characterized by an increased damage tolerance. Experiments have been made to investigate the active and passive properties of the multifunctional elements. A first beam structure with attached PZT-patches had been realized to investigate the interaction of the load carrying structure with controller hardware and control algorithm.