Abstract. An iterative automatic method is described for the characterization Of lossy piezoelectric materials in the radial resonance mode based on the use of the more general expression for the complex admittance. From the experimental data of Y at four adequately selected frequencies, the constants of the material are determined with the necessaty accuracy to reproduce the piezoelectric behaviour of the sample around resonance. The IEEE-176 Standard procedure has been automatized for the initial estimation of the real parts of the elastic constants. The method is applicable even to those materials in which said standard does not allow one to determine the piezoelectric constants.

A method based on the use of four piezoelectric resonances for three sample geometries is presented that allows one to obtain all the dielectric permittivities, compliances, and piezoelectric coefficients of a piezoelectric ceramic in complex form and, therefore, all related losses. Piezoelectric losses are responsible for heat generation and hysteresis in actuators. The method is applied to a Navy type II PZT-based piezoelectric ceramic (PZT ‫؍‬ lead zirconate titanate), for which the full set of linear electric, mechanical, and electromechanical coefficients is given in complex form. Full sets of coefficients for the available piezoceramics are required for exploiting all the possibilities of finite element analysis, both in fundamental research (mechanisms of degradation) and in development (element design). This numerical technique is necessary to explore arbitrary shapes provided by solid free-form-fabrication technologies.

An automatic iterative method by which material constants of piezoelectric ceramics may be determined in complex form is described. Measurements are reported on samples with different shapes: thickness expansion and shear plates, and length expansion bars. With the constants provided by this method, the profiles for the conductance, resistance, susceptance and reactance are calculated, for the same sample, in the frequency range containing resonance and anti-resonance, and very good agreement is obtained with respect to the experimental data.

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