Sensitivity Characteristics of Acoustic Emission (AE) Sensor Using Thickness-Shear-Mode Piezoelectric Device

In this study, Acoustic Emission (AE) sensor was fabricated with the rectangular type Pb(Mg1/2W1/2)O3-Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3-Pb(Zr0.5Ti0.5)O3 (abbreviated as PMW-PNN-PZT) ceramic piezoelectric device using thickness shear mode. From the results of ATILA simulation, the specimen with the size of 8 × 6 × 8  mm3 was determined as the experimental piezoelectric device which shows the excellent thickness shear mode. Electromechanical coupling factor kp, piezoelectric constant d33 and g33 of PMW-PNN-PZT ceramics showed the excellent values of 0.63, 573 [pC/N], and 29.81 [10−3V·m/N], respectively, suitable for AE sensor device application. Thickness shear mode electromechanical coupling factor k15 was 0.61 at the specimen with the size of 8 × 6 × 8  mm3. The peak sensitivity of AE sensor using this thickness–shear-mode piezoelectric device showed 79 [dB] at 29.4 [kHz].