LAUSR

&NA; Ultrasonic transducers for high temperature (200 °C+) applications are a key enabling technology for advanced nuclear power systems and in a range of chemical and petro‐chemical industries. Design, fabrication and optimization of such transducers using piezoelectric materials remains a challenge. In this work, experimental data‐based analysis is performed to investigate the fundamental causal factors for the resonance characteristics of a piezoelectric disc at elevated temperatures. The effect of all ten temperature‐dependent piezoelectric constants (&egr;33, &egr;11, d33, d31, d15, s11, s12, s13, s33, s44) is studied numerically on both the radial and thickness mode resonances of a piezoelectric disc. A sensitivity index is defined to quantify the effect of each of the temperature‐dependent coefficients on the resonance modes of the modified lead zirconium titanate disc. The temperature dependence of s33 showed highest sensitivity towards the thickness resonance mode followed by &egr;33, s11, s13, s12, d31, d33, s44, &egr;11, and d15 in the decreasing order of the sensitivity index. For radial resonance modes, the temperature dependence of &egr;33 showed highest sensitivity index followed by s11, s12 and d31 coefficient. This numerical study demonstrates that the magnitude of d33 is not the sole factor that affects the resonance characteristics of the piezoelectric disc at high temperatures. It appears that there exists a complex interplay between various temperature dependent piezoelectric coefficients that causes reduction in the thickness mode resonance frequencies which is found to be agreement in with the experimental data at an elevated temperature. HighlightsThe effect of all ten temperature‐dependent material coefficients is investigated numerically on the resonance modes of a piezoelectric (PZT‐5A) disc.The temperature dependent variation in s33 showed highest sensitivity towards the thickness resonance mode followed by &egr;33, s11, s13, s12, d31, d33, s44, &egr;11, and d15 in the decreasing order of the sensitivity index.For radial resonance modes, the temperature dependence of &egr;33 showed highest sensitivity index followed by s11, s12 and d31 coefficient.A complex interplay between various temperature‐dependent piezoelectric coefficients causes the reduction of thickness mode resonance frequencies which is found to be in agreement with the experimental work.Proposed methodology based on the temperature dependent experimental data could potentially be used to estimate the sensitivity of piezoelectric based ultrasonic transducers at high temperatures.