Dielectric and mechanical absorption mechanisms for time and frequency domain transducer modeling

In all practical transduction systems-such as biomedical imaging arrays, underwater sonar systems or piezoelectric actuators and transformers, electromechanical losses impact overall system performance. Adverse effects of these losses include heat generation, sub-optimal electrical matching, and reduced operational efficiency. Consequently, it is imperative to fully understand the implications of loss mechanisms and incorporate them properly in numerical and analytical models. In this paper, time-domain electromechanical absorption mechanisms are studied in terms of their physical mechanisms and frequency-domain counterparts. We examine the mechanical and dielectric losses of some common piezoelectric materials and discuss some of the issues that arise in attempting to measure and model them.