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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Over the past several years interest in adaptive ‘smart'materials development has gained momentum. Smart structures utilize both polymeric sensors and lead-based piezo-ceramic actuators. This paper addresses the development of an alternative smart material which consists of a novel lead-free piezo-ceramic/PVDF hybrid composite, to be used as a single component system capable of performing multiple tasks. A lead-free controlled porosity perovskite ceramic of the type A2B2O7 (Sr2 (Nb.5Ta.5)2O7 was developed utilizing hot forging. Long, oriented grains along the x-y plane, perpendicular to the forging direction were obtained in the ceramics. PVDF was subsequently infiltrated into the porous piezo-ceramic resulting in a three dimensional architecture in which the piezo-ceramic is oriented perpendicular to the PVDF. It is anticipated that manufacturability combined with the ease of functional tailorability of such a class of lead-free hybrid materials can be useful in a variety of smart structures applications.