I've heard that when an alternating current is passed through a piezo crystal it vibrates. But what happens if a direct current is passed through the crystal? I'm assuming depending on the direction of the DC applied the crystal either compresses or expands. Am I right? I'm interested in compressing a cuboidal shaped piezo crystal. How do I do it with DC. I haven't bought a crystal yet so I would like to know theoretically what direction of DC will cause the crystal to compress or expand?
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\$\begingroup\$ PI Ceramic has a pretty good overview about Piezo technology on their website here \$\endgroup\$– ArsenalApr 28, 2020 at 11:03
1 Answer
How do I do it with DC
For a very short period of time is the short answer.
Longer answer - a piezo is basically a capacitor in terms of equivalent circuit and, to push a constant current through that capacitor requires a ramp voltage applied to the terminals. This follows from the basic capacitance equation: -
$$ I = C\dfrac{dv}{dt}$$
In other words, to keep current at a constant value dv/dt needs to be constant and that means a voltage waveform that is a ramp. Pretty soon you will have raised the ramping voltage so high that you have thousands of volts across the piezo and it's going to breakdown due to over-stress voltage.
so I would like to know theoretically what direction of DC will cause the crystal to compress or expand?
Assuming you can overcome the above difficulty by only applying the ramp for a short period of time, the data sheet for the piezo will tell you the answer.
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\$\begingroup\$ Where can I find a data sheet for piezo crystal? When I search the internet all I can find is data sheet for piezoelectric sensors. \$\endgroup\$– SomannaApr 28, 2020 at 8:24
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\$\begingroup\$ I'm no expert in using piezos but there are some around because there have been other questions on this site that linked to them. Try doing a search on this site. For instance this one - scroll up to the question and you'll find a link. But remember, this is a Q and A site and not a shopping site. \$\endgroup\$– Andy akaApr 28, 2020 at 8:28
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1\$\begingroup\$ @Somanna I got several hits searching for "piezo block": you could search further on terms you find in these hits, like "discrete piezoelectric stacks", "Piezo Ceramic Block" \$\endgroup\$– HuismanApr 28, 2020 at 8:55