Anna Lutz and Owen Schneider, “Material Characterization of a Piezoelectric Polymer Film”
Mentor: Rani El Hajjar, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Engineering & Applied Science (College of)
Poster #75
The objective of this research project is to create a small device made from a piezoelectric polymer film. A piezoelectric has a special property in which it deforms when a voltage is applied. This material is manufactured by stretching in one direction. As a result, the material has different properties in stretch direction versus the traverse direction (orthotropic)It is important to understand how the material properties change as the orientation varies. The stress-strain behavior in relation to the angle of the orientation was measured using tensile testing, with orientations of 0°, 15°, 45° and 90°, where 0° is the machining or grain direction. The strain coefficients of the material were also measured using two experimental methods: digital image correlation and a small-scale tensile testing machine. Both computational models and numerical theory were used to compare expected behavior to experimental results. The experimental results showed strains over 18% for the 0°, 15°, and 45° samples. The ultimate strength of the material was highest in the 0° and 15° samples, with a notable drop for the 45° specimen. The 90° sample showed considerable reduction in both strain and ultimate strength, as expected since it opposes the machine direction. Understanding material behavior and properties lays the foundation for developing new metamaterials; materials with microscale features that create unique material properties. Potential applications include shapeshifting materials, bio-mechanical healing devices, vibrational energy harvesting systems and haptic technology.