Effect of epoxy resin addition on the acoustic impedance, microstructure, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of 1–3 connectivity lead-free barium zirconate titanate ceramic cement-based composites

In this work, 1–3 connectivity barium zirconate titanate ceramic cement-based composites were fabricated using Portland cement and epoxy resin as the matrix. Barium zirconate titanate (BZT) of 40–60 % by volume was used while epoxy was used with cement at 0–7% by volume. Dielectric and piezoelectric properties , and other properties such as acoustic impedance , density and microstructure were investigated. It was found that epoxy resin can be used in combination with BZT to achieve a suitable acoustic impedance value (9–11 × 10 6 kg/m·s 2 ) matching that of concrete for structural health monitoring application. Thus, when epoxy resin was used at 7 %, BZT volume can be increased to 60 % where the highest d 33 value of 93 pC/N was found and remain within the acoustic matching range . In addition, when epoxy resin was increased, both piezoelectric charge coefficient (d 33 ) and piezoelectric voltage coefficient (g 33 ) were also found to increase. This is likely due to the lower porosity thus denser matrix when epoxy resin was used in addition to cement.