High temperature electrostrictive ceramics for a Venus ultrasonic rock sampling tool

NASA´s intended mission to Venus (the Venus In-situ Explorer) will require unprecedented advances in robotic technology suited for high temperatures and extreme environments. This paper addresses development of an ultrasonic rock drilling-coring-abrading tool to quickly sample Venus surface material for chemical analysis. The key innovation behind this device is a BiScO₃-PbTiO₃ piezoelectric ceramic that has been modified to have high resistivity up to 500°C. This material was found to have very good piezoelectric properties to the depoling temperature of 420°C, and at 450°C it functioned as an electrostrictor with an induced piezoelectric coefficient of ∼ 450 pC/N under a 7 kV/cm DC bias.