Response from piezoelectric elements appearing immediately after collisions with silver particles

Ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) elements were studied by directly bombarding them with hypervelocity silver particles. The mass and velocity of these hypervelocity silver particles ranged from 1to80pg and 2to6km∕s, respectively. This report examines the pulsed signals observed immediately after collision. The first cycle of the pulse is discussed because the information on impact is presumably recorded on the wave form. The experimental data were analyzed using the wave form that was generated immediately after collision. Consequently, the following conclusions were made: (1) the sensitivity of the element is independent of the thickness of element, (2) the pulse height is proportional to the particle momentum over the measured range, and (3) the wave form is not explicitly related to the velocity of the particles at the time of collision. The potential of a single PZT element acts as a real-time detector for hypervelocity microparticles is discussed.