Design and analysis of a broadband class VII flextensional transducer with the third-generation crystal, Mn:PIN-PMN-PT

For designing flextensional transducers (FTs), driving material is an important innovation direction to improve performance. The third-generation single crystal: manganese-modified Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3-Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 (Mn:PIN-PMN-PT) has superior piezoelectric and electromechanical properties. However, up to date, Mn:PIN-PMN-PT single crystals applied to practical FTs haven’t been reported in the literature. In this paper, a broadband class VII FT based on [001]C poled Mn:PIN-PMN-PT is proposed. To fully utilize the excellent properties of Mn:PIN-PMN-PT, the structural parameters of the transducer were designed and optimized using the finite element method (FEM). Prototypes were fabricated and measured. Compared with the PZT-4 class VII FT, the bandwidth of the Mn:PIN-PMN-PT FT increased by 27.8%, and the transmitting voltage response (TVR) was 6.3 dB higher. This work verifies that Mn:PIN-PMN-PT single crystals have great potential as the driving material for broadband high-power FTs.