Tunability of cymbals as piezocomposite transducers

The cymbal design is a metal-piezoceramic composite which is based on the concept of the flextensional transducer. As actuator the cymbal design combines high displacements and moderate generative forces as well the advantage to tailor the properties through the endcap characteristics. The majority of the impedance spectra of cymbals show a double peak instead of a single main endcap resonance peak. In addition, the cymbals with a pure endcap resonance peak show a resonance frequency distribution. Through an adequate variation of the mass endcap both problems can be overcome. In this way, the resonance and the non-resonance application can benefit of appropriate tuned frequencies and operation ranges. Both problems can be solved by the variation of the mass endcap. This paper explores the possibility of both the tuning of the resonance frequencies and the performance of the cymbal device once it has been fabricated. Two approaches have been studies related to the external mass addition to the cavity and to the liquid-addition inside the cavity.