The piezoelectric boundary integral equation (BIE) formulation is applied to analyze thin piezoelectric solids, such as thin piezoelectric films and coatings, using the boundary element method (BEM). The nearly singular integrals existing in the piezoelectric BIE as applied to thin piezoelectric solids are addressed for the 2-D case. An efficient analytical method to deal with the nearly singul...

Piezoelectric elements are widely used for damping micro-vibrations in mechanical structures. Active damping can be realised robustly by means of collocated actuator-sensor-pairs, controlled so as to extract vibration energy. Excellent damping performance is possible as long as sufficient controllability is assured. Passive damping based on a single piezoelectric element can be realised by the ...

Synthesis by the hydrothermal method has various advantages, including low reaction temperature, three-dimensional substrate availability, and automatic polarization alignment during the process. In this review, powder synthesis, the fabrication of piezoelectric thin films, and their applications are introduced. A polycrystalline lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin film was applied to a micro ul...

Piezoelectric materials capable of converting between mechanical and electrical energy have a great range of potential applications in micro- and nano-scale smart devices; however, their performance tends to be greatly degraded when reduced to a thin film due to the large clamping force by the substrate and surrounding materials. Herein, we report an effective method for synthesizing isolated p...

The initial design and the prototype implementation of a micro-vehicle is presented. This microvehicle is capable of moving internally and simultaneously inspecting pipe systems with a diameter between 40mm to110mm. The driving motors are chosen to be of ultrasonic piezoelectric type, due to their high torque and compact design characteristics. The structure of the vehicle is modular, based on ...

Power supply is a bottle-neck problem of wireless micro-sensors, especially where the replacement of batteries is impossible or inconvenient. Now piezoelectric material is being used to harvest vibration energy for self-powered sensors. However, the geometry of a piezoelectric cantilever beam will greatly affect its vibration energy harvesting ability. This paper deduces a remarkably precise an...

A piezoelectric bimorph beam, as an upgraded cantilever beam structure, can be used to detect gas content and build a micro-actuator, among other functions. Thus, this beam is widely applied to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), transformers, and precision machinery. For example, when photoacoustic spectroscopy is performed to detect oil-soluble gas in transformers, a micro-cantilever beam ...

High-aspect-ratio single-crystalline KNN nanorods (length ~10-20 μm and diameter ~400 nm) are synthesized using a facile method based on a molten-salt reaction, whose formation mechanism has been revealed. The lead-free piezoelectric nanorods showing high piezoelectric coefficient d*33 up to ~230 pm V(-1) may be used in bio-sensing and energy-harvesting micro-devices.

Either electric or magnetic field can be employed for micro actuation. Each type of actuation principle has its own advantages and drawbacks. This paper presents a comparative study of micro actuators driven by electric and magnetic principles. It is shown that the electrostatic and piezoelectric actuators have good scaling effects whereas the electromagnetic actuators have higher power density...