New Materials for Smart Structures: a US: Japan Global Initiative

摘要

This reports supplements the extensive earlier report of 2002 and covers work carried forward on supplementary funding for the period Jan 1, 2003 to Dec 31, 2003 and is now the final report on ONR Grant Number N000. 14. 99. 1. 1011. The extended program continued to focus upon electro-active materials for actuating and transducing functions. The two most important technical areas are: (1) The study of bismuth based solid solutions with morphotropic phase boundaries (MPBs). Current work has generated new clues as to the origin of the large electric polarization in epitaxial thin film systems; (2) Examination of possible use of induced gradient effects (Flexoelectricity) to engineer completely new piezoelectric composites with properties impossible to engineer by other materials.