Electromechanical performance of stress-biased actuators

Piezoelectric actuators are being increasingly used in smart systems like vibration suppression and acoustic noise canceling devices. In this work, a novel piezoelectric bending actuator CRESCENT was developed. CRESCENT is a stress-biased ceramic-metal composite actuator. The technology involves the use of the difference in thermal contraction between the ceramic and the metal plates bonded together at a high temperature by a polymeric agent to produce a stress-biased curved structure. The electromechanical performance of this device in the cantilever configuration was investigated. The tip displacement, blocking force and electrical admittance were chosen to characterize the performance of the actuator under quasistatic conditions. The device fabricated at optimum temperature exhibits large tip displacement and blocking force and possesses superior electromechanical characteristics to conventional unimorph actuators.