2: Review of Piezoelectric Materials

Chapter 2 reviews piezoelectric materials such as piezoceramics like PZT and piezo polymers like PVDF. The piezoelectric effect describes the reversible electrodynamic relationship in some solid crystalline structures with embedded dipoles. These crystalline solids possess microscopic regions containing dipole charges such that under applied mechanical stress they change their internal arrangements of embedded electrical dipoles subsequently generating a voltage across the material boundaries. Conversely, a voltage applied to a solid crystalline material changes the orientation of the embedded internal dipole charges and generates a deformation or strain in the solid.