In order to boost the electromechanical coupling factor and decrease the characteristic impedance, a 1-3 piezoelectric composite with a 3-tier polymer structure was designed and fabricated, in which epoxy resin constitutes the middle layer and silicone rubber is used to clamp the epoxy. The effective parameters of the composite, such as resonant frequency, electromechanical coupling factor, and characteristic impedance, were studied by the finite element method and experiment. The experimental results indicate that the electromechanical coupling factor of the composite is enhanced by 8.4% and the characteristic impedance is decreased by 52.8%, compared with the traditional 1-3 ceramic/epoxy composite.

A piezoelectric composite vibrator with a bilaminated structure is designed and fabricated, in this work by applying bending vibration to increase vibration displacement and reduce resonance frequency. The finite element software ANSYS (ANSYS, Inc. USA) is used to simulate the 2-2 and 1-3 piezoelectric composite bilaminated vibrators under free boundary condition and optimize their design. Simulation results show that the vibration displacement of the 2-2 vibrator is higher than that of the 1-3 vibrator, and the resonance frequency of the former is lower than the latter. Five pieces each of the 2-2 and piezoelectric ceramic vibrators are prepared. In addition, simulation and experimental results indicate that the vibration displacement of the 2-2 vibrator increases by 2.3 times, whereas its resonance frequency decreases by nearly 100 Hz, in comparison with those of the piezoelectric ceramic bilaminated vibrator.