Nanoscale ferroelectric materials have numerous possible applications such as actively tunable photonic crystals, terahertz emitters, ultrasound transducers, and energy harvesters. One of most technologically relevant ferroelectric materials is lead zirconate titanate (PZT) due to its large piezoelectric response. However, there are limited methods currently available for creating nanoscale PZT structures. Current top-down patterning methods include material removal via a high energy beam, which damages the piezoelectric's properties, and wet etching, which is an isotropic process that results in poor edge definition. Similarly, current bottom-up approaches such as hard template-growth and hydrothermal processing have limited control over the aspect ratio of the structures produced and lack site specific registry. In this work, a bottom-up approach for creating PbZr₀.₅₂Ti₀.₄₈O₃ nanotubes was developed using soft-template infiltration by a sol-gel solution. This method allows excellent control of the structures produced, overcoming current manufacturing limitations. PZT nanotubes were fabricated with diameters ranging from 100 to 200 nm, aspect ratios (height to diameter) from 1.25:1 to 5:1, and wall thicknesses from 5 to 25 nm. The piezoelectric and ferroelectric nature of the nanotubes was characterized via scanning probe microscopy in order to investigate nanoscale phenomena. Specifically, the effects of lateral constraint, substrate clamping, and critical size on the extrinsic contribution to the piezoelectric response were studied and the results are discussed.

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D. Tech. Mathematical Technology. / Investigates hyperbolic and pseudohyperbolic equations and the results are applied to higher-order rod approximations for the propagation of the longitudinal stress waves in elastic rods. The main objectives of this thesis are: 1. Provide a unified approach to the derivation of the families of one-dimensional hyperbolic differential equations simultaneously with the associated natural and essential boundary conditions describing longitudinal vibration of finite length rods. 2. Establish a new theoremto shorten the derivation of equations of motion and the corresponding boundary conditions, modelling longitudinal wave propagation in the rod. 3. Prove that, when deriving the higher-order rod equations, the lower-order are still included, thus increasing the number of deformations in the rod or the accuracy of the model. 4. Provide mathematical tools for the classification of the obtained equations. 5. Compare the accuracy of the above-mentioned vibration theories in elastic rods based on the investigation of their frequency spectrums which are not available in the literature. 6. Show how two of the above vibration theories, the Rayleigh-Bishop and Mindlin-Herrmann theories, can be applied to predict wave propagation in a piezoelectric circular cylinder and isotropic conical rod. In both cases a numerical example is given as a simulation of the solution.7. Find general methods for solving problems of longitudinal vibration of finite length rods for all of the above-mentioned theories.

Nagrinėjama pjezoelektrinės pavaros pozicionavimo tikslumas ir pjezoelemento suveikimo laikas. Aprašomas tiriamas objektas, jo valdymo įrenginiai ir bandymams naudojama aparatūra. Aptariami atliktų bandymų rezultatai. Pateikiamos išvados ir rekomendacijos. / The piezoelectric drive positioning accuracy and the piezo element play time are analyzed in the paper. The investigated object, its control and equipment for testing are described. Experimentation results are analyzed. Conclusion and recommendations are given.

he extent of BiInO₃ substitution in the perovskite system xBiInO(₃)-(1 - x)PbTiO₃ and the corresponding raise in the transition temperature were investigated using thermal analysis, dielectric measurements, x-ray diffraction, and electron microscopy. Maximum tetragonal perovskite distortion (c/a = 1.082) was obtained for x = 0.20, with a corresponding Curie temperature of 582°C. Phase-pure tetragonal perovskite was obtained for x less than or equal to 0.25. Compound formation after calcining mixed oxide powders resulted in agglomerated cube-shaped tetragonal perovskite particles, which could be fired to 94.7% of theoretical density (TD). Niobium-modified BIPT ceramics with PT contents of 80% and 85% were found to possess significantly lower dielectric loss at elevated temperatures, making it possible to polarize the materials. Piezoelectric properties were measured for a 1.5 mol% Nb -0.15BI-0.85PT composition with a transition temperature of 542°C; the longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient and coercive field were found to be 60 pC/N and 125 kV/cm, respectively. Compositions of xBiLaO₃-(1 − x)PbTiO₃ over the range 0 < x < 0.225 were calcined and sintered. Dielectric constant with temperature and differential scanning calorimetry measurements were in excellent agreement with respect to a Curie-like tetragonal to cubic transformations starting at 495°C for pure PbTiO₃, shifting to lower temperatures with increasing x. For compositions of x > 0.05, a second higher-temperature (∼600°C) endotherm, and matching dielectric anomaly, were consistently observed, for which there were no structural changes indicated by hot-stage x-ray diffraction. This transformation was interpreted to be similar to a Curie transformation in relaxor ferroelectrics in which localized segregation of B-site cations (below the resolution limit of x-ray diffraction) facilitated ferroelectric behavior.

As the science and technology advance, people are looking for new discoveries to solve the existing problems and improve the quality of life. In this processes of development, nanoscience and nanotechnology have attracted technologists' attention and turned out to be one of the most promising technologies that could have a revolutionary impact. Znic Oxide (ZnO) nanostructures, in particular nanowires (NWs), have the potential to be one of such revolutionary material. ZnO is a piezoelectric, transparent and semiconducting material. With a direct band gap of 3.37eV and large excitation binding energy (60meV), ZnO exhibits near-UV emission, and transparent conductivity. ZnO NWs, with all of the properties of bulk ZnO, have other properties that are distinct to nanoscale material. All of these make ZnO NWs a very unique material that has many potential applications in system miniaturization. System-on-package (SOP) technology is a new concept developed to solve the integration problem in microelectronic industry. SOP technology paradigm provides system-level miniaturization in a package size that makes today's hand-held devices into multi-functional systems, with applications ranging from computing, wireless communications, health care to personal security. The SOP is a system miniaturization technology that ultimately integrates nanoscale thin film components for batteries, thermal structures, active and passive components in low cost organic packaging substrates, leading to micro to nanoscale modules and systems. The goal of this research is to investigate and utilize the unique properties of ZnO NWs and apply them to the fabrication of devices that can be integrated with SOP platform. The issues include developing techniques to manipulate and align ZnO NWs; developing contact preparation method to improve the contact conductance for the fabrication of ZnO NW based devices. Also, the investigation of the oxygen diffusion coefficient in ZnO NWs is carried out, which serves as the basis of ZnO NWs for sensing applications. Two practical applications, which include fabricating and characterizing SOP compatible ZnO NW based bio-sensor and SOP compatible ZnO NW based nano-generator, are evaluated. Finally the remaining work beyond the scope of the thesis is outlined.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-02-24Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:14:27Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 gonsalez_cg_me_ilha.pdf: 4679748 bytes, checksum: 5f6a627734b2110f92059053c2470814 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Pesquisadores de diversas partes do mundo se empenham em desenvolver técnicas capazes de monitorar a integridade de máquinas, veículos e estruturas, principalmente as que a ruptura ou destruição possa provocar acidentes e catástrofes. Neste contexto, várias técnicas não destrutivas podem ser utilizadas para monitorar estes sistemas permitindo a realização de reparos e, evitando maiores prejuízos econômicos e danos sociais. A técnica da Impedância Eletromecânica está entre as técnicas baseadas na utilização de materiais piezelétricos e, particularmente, utiliza-se de uma curva sensível a pequenas variações na estrutura, característica que faz a técnica ser eficiente na detecção de danos incipientes. No entanto, sob variações das condições ambiente e de teste, a sensibilidade da técnica pode produzir falsos diagnósticos. Desta forma, o desafio atual é aplicar a técnica da Impedância Eletromecânica em sistemas de monitoramento considerando condições mais próximas às condições de operação reais dos sistemas a serem monitorados. Este trabalho apresenta duas metodologias para sistemas SHM, a primeira consiste em utilizar a técnica de agrupamento Fuzzy c-means para entender e considerar o efeito da temperatura nos sinais da Impedância Eletromecânica. A segunda metodologia utiliza análise de variância (ANOVA) para propor uma metodologia de detecção mais robusta, e assim, incorporar variações aleatórias nos sistemas de medição e aquisição sem comprometer o diagnóstico SHM / Researchers around the world are engaged to develop techniques for structural health monitoring of machinery, vehicles and structures, especially systems where damage or destruction could induce accidents and disasters. In this context, several non-destructive techniques can be used to monitor these systems allowing repairs and avoiding major economic losses or social losses. The electromechanical impedance technique is among the techniques based on piezoelectric materials use and it is sensible to small variations in the structure which makes it efficient in detecting incipient damages. However, variations in the ambient or test conditions can cause false diagnoses. Therefore, the current challenge is to apply the electromechanical impedance technique considering monitoring conditions closer to real operating conditions of the systems to be monitored. This work presents two methodologies for SHM systems. The first one uses Fuzzy c-means clustering to distinguish the temperature effect on impedance signal. The second method uses analysis of variance (ANOVA) to propose a more robust detection methodology and thus incorporate random variations in measurement systems and acquisition without loss of SHM diagnostic

Le sujet de ce travail de thèse s'inscrit dans la récupération d'énergie thermique à l'échelle microscopique pour proposer une alternative aux matériaux thermoélectriques. L'objectif est de concevoir, fabriquer et caractériser un récupérateur microscopique pour tirer profit de l'augmentation des échanges thermiques et des fréquences d'oscillations avec la réduction d'échelle. Il est basé sur une double transduction, thermo-mécanique grâce au flambage d'une poutre bi-couche initialement courbe, et piézoélectrique.Des structures rectangulaires de différents tailles à base d'AlN et d'Al ont été fabriquées et caractérisées. La courbure transverse des plaques rectangulaires étant trop importante, des structures optimisées en forme de papillons ont par ailleurs été fabriquées et caractérisées. / This PhD thesis focuses on the thermal energy harvesting at microscale to propose an alternative to thermoelectric materials. The aim is to conceive, fabricate and characterize a microscopic harvester to take profit of the increase of thermal exchanges and oscillation frequencies with the downscaling. It is based on a double-step transduction: thermo-mecanical one thanks to the thermal buckling of a bilayer plate initially curved, and piezoelectric.Rectangular structures of different sizes composed of AlN and Al have been fabricated and characterized. The transverse curvature of the rectangular plate being to high, optimized structures having a butterfly shape have also been fabricated and characterized.

The use of piezoelectric materials for actuation, and vibration suppression of thin beams, is the subject of study in this doctoral thesis. The initial focus is set on reducing beam vibrations with resistively shunted piezoelectric patches, where the converted electrical energy is dissipated by the resistor to give an additional damping. The amount of additional damping achieved depends on the value of shunted resistor, the dimensions of the piezoelectric, and its location on the substructure. Hence, the resistively shunted piezoelectric-beam was modelled to determine the optimal values, and to examine its dynamics. A multi-modal model was derived based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, and a reduced non-dimensionalized transfer function was obtained from the multi-modal model. The presented model was derived from assumptions which aptly describe the dynamics of the resistively shunted piezoelectric-beam. The aptness of the presented model in representing the system, over the existing models, was evident from the comparison of the analytical predictions with the existing experimental data. With the model derived, the second part of the work deals with determining the value of resistance which would yield maximum amplitude attenuation (referred as the optimal resistance value). A method for obtaining the optimal resistance value from the analytical model, based on the presence of a fixed-point in the amplitude response, exists in the literature. But, this method cannot be used on the presented analytical model, as it includes the base-damping of the structure. Hence, a different approach was adopted to determine the optimal resistance from the analytical model. Analytical results were also validated with experimental results from a cantilever piezoelectric-beam. The amplitude plots of the first, second, and third modes of the piezoelectric-beam exhibited a softening e ect, indicating a non-linear behaviour of the piezoelectric patches. Hence, a non-linear constitutive equation was required to describe the behaviour of the piezoelectric patches. In the third part of the work, a two-step experimental procedure was devised to construct the non-linear constitutive equation of the piezoelectric actuators. In the first step, the piezoelectric patches were short circuited and a family of displacement curves were obtained for the first, second and third modes of the piezoelectric-beam by base excitation. The pro le of backbone curves from these plots were used to identify the type of non-linear terms required to describe the mechanical domain. In the second step, voltage excitation was used to obtain a similar set of displacement curves. A comparison of the profile of the backbone curves, of the displacement frequency response plot, from the voltage excited data with those from the base excited data, lead to the identification of the non-linear electromechanical coupling term. The constitutive equation, which accounts for the non-linear nature, of the piezoelectric actuator contains (apart from the linear terms) a quadratic strain term, a cubic strain term, and a term with the product of cubic strain and electric field.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-09-21Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:55:54Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 cavalinijunior_aa_me_ilha.pdf: 4616021 bytes, checksum: bcabaa1ecc36a762e1aa65b62c75b44a (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O monitoramento da integridade estrutural (SHM) de sistemas mecânicos trata-se de uma tecnologia emergente que combina modernos sensores com inteligentes algoritmos computacionais para analisar a condição da estrutura em tempo real ou quando for necessário. Segurança, alto desempenho em operação e redução nos custos de manutenção são alguns dos principais benefícios concedidos pela tecnologia SHM. Deste modo, esta tecnologia vem encontrando aceitação crescente na indústria, principalmente na aeronáutica e petrolífera onde os custos de manutenção são muito elevados. Dentre as técnicas de monitoramento desenvolvidas, a dos observadores de estado se destacou. No entanto, esta técnica SHM possui algumas restrições que motivam o interesse pelo desenvolvimento de uma nova abordagem para a mesma. Neste contexto, este trabalho alia os já conhecidos observadores de estado com as características do domínio modal a fim de determinar o modo de vibrar mais afetado pela presença de um dano qualquer no sistema monitorado. A partir do conhecimento desta informação é possível projetar, por exemplo, sistemas de controle e manutenção mais eficientes. Contudo, nesta dissertação são apresentadas aplicações numéricas e experimentais em diferentes sistemas mecânicos a fim de detalhar e demonstrar a técnica SHM via Observador de Estado Modal, inicialmente proposta aqui. Algumas destas aplicações contam ainda com sensores e atuadores piezelétricos acoplados as estruturas. Os resultados encontrados mostram pontos favoráveis e desfavoráveis da técnica proposta / Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an emerging technology that combines modern sensors with intelligent algorithms to analyze the structural condition in real time or specific time. Security, high operation performance and maintenance reduction costs are some of the key benefits provided by this technology. Not surprisingly, the SHM techniques have recently received increased attention in aircraft and oil industries. Among the developed SHM techniques, state observers had special attention. However, this technique presents some restrictions that motivate the development of a new SHM approach through state observers. In this context, this work associates the already known state observers with features obtained in the modal domain to determine the vibration modes that are more affected by damage presence in the monitored structure. That information makes possible the design of efficient maintenance and control systems. In order to analyze the Modal State Observer technique, firstly presented here, numerical and experimental applications in different mechanical systems are presented. In some applications are used sensors and piezoelectric actuators coupled in the structures. The results lead to the conclusion that the Modal State Observer is a potential useful SHM tool