Piezoelectric cement-based 1-3 composites

This paper presents a new functional material for smart structure applications. Piezoelectric PZT/cement 1-3 composites that have good compatibility with civil engineering structural materials have been studied. The composites with different volume fractions of PZT ranging from 0.25 to 0.77 were fabricated by the dice-and-fill method. It was found that the 1-3 composites have good piezoelectric properties that agreed quite well with theoretical modeling. The thickness electromechanical coupling coefficient could reach 0.55 in the composite with a ceramic volume fraction of 0.25. Those composites have potential to be used as sensors in civil structure health monitoring systems.