Vibration-induced nanoscale friction modulation on piezoelectric materials

Mechanical vibration, as an alternative of application of solid/liquid lubricants, has been an effective means to modulate friction at the macroscale. Recently, atomic force microscopy (AFM) experiments and model simulations also suggest a similar vibration-induced friction reduction effect for nanoscale contact interfaces, although an additional external vibration source is typically needed to excite the system. Here, by introducing a piezoelectric thin film along the contact interface, we demonstrate that friction measured by a conductive AFM probe can be significantly reduced (more than 70%) when an alternating current (AC) voltage is applied. Such real-time friction modulation is achieved owing to the localized nanoscale vibration originating from the intrinsic inverse piezoelectric effect, and is applicable for various material combinations. Assisted by analysis with the Prandtl—Tomlinson (P—T) friction model, our experimental results suggest that there exists an approximately linear correlation between the vibrational amplitude and the relative factor for perturbation of sliding energy corrugation. This work offers a viable strategy for realizing active friction modulation for small-scale interfaces without the need of additional vibration source or global excitation that may adversely impact device functionalities.

Simulation Analysis of Effect of Vacancies on Ferroic Domain Growth of BaTiO^3

BaTiO3 is one of the well-known ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials, which has been widely used in various devices. However, the microscopic mechanism of the ferroelectric domain growth is not understood well. We investigated the effects of point defects, mono- and di-vacancies of Ba, Ti, and O, on the domain growth of BaTiO3 using molecular dynamics simulation with the core-shell inter-atomic potential. We found the following: ｓ(1) One kind of monovacancy, VO1, located on the TiO plane perpendicular to the applied electric field direction, acts to hinder the polarization inversion induced by the applied electric field. The monopole electric field produced by VO1 either hinders or assists the local polarization inversion in accordance with the local intensity of the total electric field. (2) The 1st-neighbor divacancies VBa-VO and VTi-VO as compared to the 2nd-neighbor divacancies asymmetrically affect the domain growth with respect to the applied electric field, making the hysteresis behavior of applied electric field vs. polarization relation. The domain grows even at a small electric field when the directions of the applied electric field and the divacancy dipole are mutually the same. (3) The domain growth speed towards the applied electric field direction is about 2 orders of magnitude higher than that towards the perpendicular direction.

Plantar pressure measurement system based on piezoelectric sensor: a review

Purpose Plantar force is the interface pressure existing between the foot plantar surface and the shoe sole during static or dynamic gait. Plantar force derived from gait and posture plays a critical role for rehabilitation, footwear design, clinical diagnostics and sports activities, and so on. This paper aims to review plantar force measurement technologies based on piezoelectric materials, which can make the reader understand preliminary works systematically and provide convenience for researchers to further study. Design/methodology/approach The review introduces working principle of piezoelectric sensor, structures and hardware design of plantar force measurement systems based on piezoelectric materials. The structures of sensors in plantar force measurement systems can be divided into four kinds, including monolayered sensor, multilayered sensor, tri-axial sensor and other sensor. The previous studies about plantar force measurement system based on piezoelectric technology are reviewed in detail, and their characteristics and performances are compared. Findings A good deal of measurement technologies have been studied by researchers to detect and analyze the plantar force. Among these measurement technologies, taking advantage of easy fabrication and high sensitivity, piezoelectric sensor is an ideal candidate sensing element. However, the number and arrangement of the sensors will influence the characteristics and performances of plantar force measurement systems. Therefore, it is necessary to further study plantar force measurement system for better performances. Originality/value So far, many plantar force measurement systems have been proposed, and several reviews already introduced plantar force measurement systems in the aspect of types of pressure sensors, experimental setups for foot pressure measurement analysis and the technologies used in plantar shear stress measurements. However, this paper reviews plantar force measurement systems based on piezoelectric materials. The structures of piezoelectric sensors in the measurement systems are discussed. Hardware design applied to measurement system is summarized. Moreover, the main point of further study is presented in this paper.

Dynamic Stability Analysis of Size-Dependent Viscoelastic/Piezoelectric Nano-beam

This paper analyzes the dynamic stability of an isotropic viscoelastic Euler–Bernoulli nano-beam using piezoelectric materials. For this purpose, the size-dependent theory was used in the framework of the modified couple stress theory (MCST) for piezoelectric materials. In order to capture the geometrical nonlinearity, the von Karman strain displacement relation was applied. Hamilton’s principle was also employed to obtain the governing equations. Furthermore, the Galerkin method was used in order to convert the governing partial differential equations (PDEs) to a nonlinear second-order ordinary differential one. Dynamic stability analysis was performed and the effects of such parameters as viscoelastic coefficients, size effect, and piezoelectric coefficient were investigated. The results showed that in this system, saddle points, central points, Hopf bifurcation points, and fork bifurcation points could be created, and the phase portraits connecting these equilibrium points exhibit periodic orbits, heteroclinic orbits, and homoclinic orbits.

Metrological Analysis of the Relationship Model between the Properties of Piezoelectric Materials

The properties of piezoelectric materials due to the effect of electrical, mechanical, thermal, radiation, and chemical parameters are systematized. On the basis of Maxwell's relations (obtained from expressions for thermodynamic functions) and the application of the system analysis methodology, it made it possible to develop an analytical model of the relationship between the parameters and properties of piezoelectrics in the form of a system of equations. The results of the metrological analysis of an analytical model, which made it possible to identify the sources of additional errors in the measurement of parameters, to derive formulas for their calculation, which in turn contributes to an increase in the accuracy of measurements of the piezoelectrics parameters and products based on them, are presented.

A Hermite interpolation element-free Galerkin method for piezoelectric materials

Piezoelectric materials have played an important role in industry due to a number of beneficial properties. However, most numerical methods for the piezoelectric materials need mesh, in which the mesh generation and remeshing are prominent difficulties. This paper proposes a Hermite interpolation element-free Galerkin method (HIEFGM) for piezoelectric materials, where the Hermite approximate approach and interpolation element-free Galerkin method (IEFGM) are combined. Based on the constitutive equation, geometric equation, and Galerkin integral weak form, the HIEFGM formulation for piezoelectric materials is established. In the proposed method, the problem domain is discretized by many nodes rather than the meshes, so the pre-processing of numerical computation is simplified. Furthermore, a new approximation technique based on the moving least squares method and Hermite approximate approach is used to derive the approximation function of field quantities. The derived approximation function has the Kronecker delta property and considers the field quantity normal derivatives of boundary nodes, which avoids the problem of imposing the essential boundary conditions and improves the accuracy of meshless approximation. The effects of the scaling factor, node density, and node arrangement on the accuracy of the proposed method are investigated. Numerical examples are given for assessing the proposed method and the results uniformly demonstrate the proposed method has excellent performance in analyzing piezoelectric materials.

Piezoelectricity in two-dimensional aluminum, boron and Janus aluminum-boron monochalcogenide monolayers

Piezoelectricity is a property of a material that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy or vice versa. It is known that group-III monochalcogenides, including GaS, GaSe, and InSe, show piezoelectricity in their monolayer form. Piezoelectric coefficients of these monolayers are the same order of magnitude as the previously discovered two-dimensional (2D) piezoelectric materials such as boron nitride (BN) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) monolayers. Considering a series of monolayer monochalcogenide structures including boron and aluminum (MX, M =B, Al, X = O, S, Se, Te), we design a series of derivative Janus structures (AlBX2, X = O, S, Se, Te). Ab-initio density functional theory (DFT) and density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) calculations are carried out systematically to predict their structural, electronic, electromechanical and phonon dispersion properties. The electronic band structure analysis indicate that all these 2D materials are semiconductors. The absence of imaginary phonon frequencies in phonon dispersion curves demonstrate that the systems are dynamically stable. In addition, this study shows that these materials exhibit outstanding piezoelectric properties. For AlBO2 monolayer with the relaxed-ion piezoelectric coefficients, d11=15.89(15.87) pm/V and d31=0.52(0.44) pm/V, the strongest piezoelectric properties were obtained. It has large in-plane and out-of-plane piezoelectric coefficients that are comparable to or larger than those of previously reported non-Janus monolayer structures such as MoS2 and GaSe, and also Janus monolayer structures including: In2SSe, Te2Se, MoSeTe, InSeO, SbTeI, and ZrSTe. These results, together with the fact that a lot of similar 2D systems have been synthesized so far, demonstrate the great potential of these materials in nanoscale electromechanical applications.

Generalized homogenization model of piezoelectric materials for ultrasonic transducer applications

Although piezocomposite (PC) materials have increasingly attracted researchers, there is still a need to properly and easily derive their properties. We develop a generalized homogenization model (GHM) that accounts for Smith and Cha approaches to evaluate the equivalent characteristics of piezocomposites. This method could be applied to all connectivities patterns, but restricted herein to 2-2 and 1-3 piezocomposites for comparison with Smith (1-3) and Cha (2-2) analytical results. In the proposed GHM is a parameter θ, is changed for various connectivities. The 1-3 and 2-2 PZT-7A/Araldite D (PCs) data are used and equivalent characteristics of these Pcs are determined as function of volume fraction of PZT-7A piezoelectric. Results show that the electromechanical coefficients are well fitted by Voigt and Reuss models. Results obtained for some parameters show that the proposed GHM is consistent with the analytical existing models used for the 1-3 and 2-2 connectivities and is in line with measured values from Chan and Unsworth (1989). Based on the GHM 2-2 configuration results of piezocomposite materials, the electroacoustic responses of transducers having some of these properties are simulated using the KLM model. A performance trade-off was chosen, resulting in an improved thickness coupling coefficient and a lowered acoustical impedance, and a similar approach as that on a pure PZT-7A.