Temperature and time dependence of the electro-mechanical properties of flexible active fiber composites

Active fiber composites (AFCs) are comprised of piezoelectric fibers embedded in a polymeric matrix. AFCs use interdigitated electrodes, which produce electric field lines parallel to the fiber direction, thus taking advantage of the larger d ₃₃ piezoelectric coefficient. The polymer volume content of the AFCs is generally more than 50%; since polymers tend to have behaviors affected by their viscoelastic characteristics especially at elevated temperatures, it is necessary to understand the thermo-electro-mechanical behavior of AFCs at different loading rates. In this study, mechanical, electrical and electromechanical properties of AFCs were measured at different isothermal temperatures, namely 25 °C, 50 °C and 75 °C and at different loading rates. The measurements of all the properties of AFCs were done along the fiber direction. It was found that at higher temperatures, the modulus and tensile strength decreased for all strain rates and the strain at failure increased. The remnant polarization increased with decrease in frequency and increase in temperature; however, the coercive field decreased with temperature and was not affected by the frequency. Due to the viscoelastic behavior of the epoxy, the piezoelectric coefficient d ₃₃ increased at higher temperature and lower frequency. It was also noted that this coefficient is dependent on the magnitude of the electric field.