Method for manufacturing a piezoelectric ceramic body

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric ceramic body and devices therefrom. The method comprises mixing a piezoelectric ceramic powder with a polymer binder and surfactant to form a slip mixture, casting the slip mixture into a mold and setting to the slip mixture in the mold to form a green body, cutting the green body to form a cut green body with an array of micron-sized ceramic elements and separation, and sintering the cut green body to form a sintered ceramic body. The sintered ceramic body can be further process to encasing in a polymer material to form a piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composite. The piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composite can be further processed to form devices such as acoustic transducers and sensors.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A ceramic body, manufactured from a process comprising the steps of:
 mixing a ceramic powder, polymer binder and surfactant to form a slip mixture with a solids loading by weight; casting said slip mixture into a mold;   setting the slip mixture in said mold to form a green body separating said green body from said mold;   cutting said green body to form a cut green body with an array comprising a plurality of micron-size ceramic elements and separations; and   sintering said cut green body to form a densified sintered body.   
     
     
         2 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein said ceramic powder comprises at least 90% of the slip mixture by weight percent. 
     
     
         3 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein said ceramic powder comprises at least 95% of the slip mixture by volume percent. 
     
     
         4 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , further comprising grinding said ceramic powder so that said ceramic powder has a particle size range from 0.2 .mu.m to 1.6 .mu.m after said grinding. 
     
     
         5 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein said ceramic powder is a piezoelectric or electrostrictive ceramic powder. 
     
     
         6 . The ceramic body of  claim 5 , wherein said piezoelectric ceramic powder is selected from the group consisting of lead zirconate titanate (PZT), lead niobium titanate (PNT), lead scandium niobium titanate (PSNT), (PMN), lead titanate, and barium titanate. 
     
     
         7 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein said polymer binder is an epoxy polymer. 
     
     
         8 . The ceramic body of  claim 7 , wherein said epoxy polymer is a two-part epoxy resin. 
     
     
         9 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein said slip further comprises a dispersant. 
     
     
         10 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein said setting step comprises curing said slip mixture in said mold to a temperature of 100 .degree. C. to 140 .degree. C. for a sufficient time to form said green body. 
     
     
         11 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein said cutting step comprises dicing said green body with a dicing machine. 
     
     
         12 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein said micron-size ceramic elements have dimensions of 150 .mu.m-325 .mu.m in height, 35 .mu.m-65 .mu.m in width, and 25 .mu.m-50 .mu.m element-to-element separation. 
     
     
         13 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein further comprising a bisquing treatment to remove said polymer binder from said cut green body, wherein said cut green body is heated to a sufficient temperature for a sufficient time to burn out said binder. 
     
     
         14 . The ceramic body of  claim 13 , wherein said bisquing treatment further comprises heating said cut green body to a temperature between 60 .degree. C. to 750 .degree. C. 
     
     
         15 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein said sintering step further comprises heating said body to a temperature between 1000 .degree. C. to 1100 .degree. C. for a time between 1 hour to 2 hours. 
     
     
         16 . The ceramic body of  claim 1 , wherein said sintering step further comprises heating said body to a sufficient temperature for a sufficient time to densify said sintered ceramic body to at least 95% of the theoretical density. 
     
     
         17 . The ceramic body of  claim 1  further comprising the step of encasing said sintered ceramic body in a polymer material to fill said separations and form a ceramic-polymer composite. 
     
     
         18 . A ceramic composite, manufactured from a process comprising the steps of:
 mixing a piezoelectric ceramic powder, organic binder, and surfactant to form a slip wherein said slip has a solids loading of at least 90% by weight;   casting said slip into a mold to form a green body;   separating said green body from said mold;   cutting said green body to form a cut green body with an array of micron-sized ceramic elements and separations;   bisquing said cut green body to burn out said organic binder;   sintering said cut green body to form a sintered ceramic body; and   encasing said sintered ceramic body in a polymer material to form a ceramic-polymer composite.   
     
     
         19 . The ceramic composite of  claim 18 , further comprising grinding said ceramic powder so that said ceramic powder has a particle size range from 0.2 .mu.m to 1.6 .mu.m after said grinding. 
     
     
         20 . The ceramic composite of  claim 19 , wherein said piezoelectric ceramic powder is selected from the group consisting of lead zirconate titanate (PZT), lead niobium titanate (PNT), lead scandium niobium titanate (PSNT), (PMN), lead titanate, and barium titanate.