Effect of carbon black on properties of 0-3 piezoelectric ceramic/cement composites

0-3 cement-based piezoelectric composites were fabricated using sulphoaluminate cement and piezoelectric ceramic [0.08Pb(Li-1/Nb-4(3/4))O-3 center dot 0.47PbTiO(3)center dot 0.45PbZrO(3)] [P(LN)ZT] as raw materials by Compressing technique. The influences of carbon black content on the piezoelectric and dielectric properties, electric conductivity and impedance were investigated. The results indicate that the piezoelectric strain constant d(33) and piezoelectric voltage constant g(33) of the composites increase gradually with a suitable carbon black addition. When the carbon black content is 0.3 wt%, both of the piezoelectric strain constant d(33) and piezoelectric voltage constant 933 of the composite exist the maximum value, which are 17.45 pC N-1 and 36.3 mV m N-1, respectively. As the carbon black content increases, the dielectric constant epsilon(r), dielectric loss tan delta and electric conductivity sigma of the composites all increase, while the impedance decreases. In the frequency range tested, the more the carbon black content, the higher the epsilon(r) value. The planar electromechanical coupling coefficient K-p, the thickness electromechanical coupling coefficient K-p, and the mechanical quality factor Q(m) are almost unaffected by the carbon black content. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.