Smart, Flexible, Piezoelectric Ceramic-Polymer Composites

Triton System proposes a new and innovative approach for fabricating high performance ceramic/polymer piezoelectric flexible "SMART" composite devices. The objective of the proposed effort is to develop "SMART" piezoelectric devices that are better performing and are more sensitive over a wider range of operation than composites processed using competing techniques. Our proposed approach is based on a novel fabrication technique that allows the formation of flexible ceramic/polymer composites with a high ceramic loading (up to 70%) that are more flexible and are amenable to complex shape fabrication such as piezoelectric fabrics, cables or mats. Moreover, unlike today's available piezoelectric composites, where the polymer is used to merely bind the ceramic particles together, our approach will use a polymer matrix that is itself piezoelectric. The matrix materials of choice are NASA-LaRC poly benzimidazoles (PAEBI), polyimides (fluorinated or asymmetric) or polyamides (Nylon) that have been shown to exhibit exceptionally high piezoelectric effects. Our approach is novel in several key areas namely: