Glossary of Terms
Materials Properties
Coefficient of thermal expansion
Either volumetric or linear this describes the expansion that occurs with a change in temperature. Volumetric describes the volume change whereas linear describes the change in dimensions.
Dielectric Constant
The relative permittivity of a material. Indicates the ability of a material to store electrical energy when a voltage is applied to it.
Dielectric Loss
This is the proportion of energy that is dissipated within a dielectric material and lost as heat in an electrostatic field.
Dielectric Strength
The minimum electric field that produces breakdown of the insulating properties of the dielectric.
Dissipation Factor
The dissipation factor is a measure of the loss of power that takes place in virtually all dielectric materials, usually in the form of heat. It is expressed as the ratio of the resistive (loss) component of the current to the capacitive component of current, and is equal to the tangent of the loss angle.
Hermetic Seal
Airtight seal.
Loss Factor
This is the product of the Dielectric Loss and the Dielectric Constant of a dielectric material.
Piezoelectric
When mechanical pressure is applied to one of these materials, the crystalline structure produces a voltage proportional to the pressure. Conversely, when an electric field is applied, the structure changes shape producing dimensional changes in the material. The amount of deformation is proportional to the applied electric field and the d33 coefficient of the material.
Porosity
The proportion of the non-solid volume to the total volume of material.
Materials and products
PZT
a) Piezoelectric Transducer
b) Lead Zirconate Titanate, Pb(Zr,Ti)O3
