Effect of sonication Amplitude on Piezoelectric and Mechanical Properties of BCZT/PVDF-HFP Composite

In order to improve the piezoelectric properties of polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoro (PVDF-HFP), the composition of BCZT,
$\text{Ba}_{0.85} \text{Ca}_{0.15} \text{Zr}_{0.1} \text{Ti}_{0.9} \mathrm{O}_3$
which have interesting piezoelectric properties was prepared by sol-gel method then dispersed in PVDF-HFP. To achieve a good quality of the nanocomposite, the obtained BCZT was firstly characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to get insight about its purity. Then, the powder was sonicated with different amplitudes before filling into the PVDF-HFP matrix. The effects of sonication amplitude on the structure, mechanical and piezoelectric properties of BCZT/PVDF-HFP composites were investigated. Three different tests for each composite with a specific amplitude (20 %, 30 % and 40 %) were conducted to give an overview of the particle distribution in the matrix. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results show that BCZT powder crystallizes in the pure perovskite structure. The tetragonal phase P4mm was identified and confirmed by Rietveld refinement. The electrical analysis reveals that the BCZT particles dispersed with 40 % amplitude show the highest conductivity which is the sign of good distribution of the particles in the PVDF-HFP polymer matrix. According to the mechanical analysis, low variation of Young's modulus for three composite tests for composite prepared with high sonication amplitude. As well, it is noted that increasing sonication amplitude improves both mechanical and piezoelectric properties. The present results provide an insight into optimizing composite materials to achieve better homogeneity, and on the other hand as promising candidates for electronic and energy storage devices.