A Comparison of Piezoelectric and Giant Magnetostrictive Actuators in Precision Machine Tools

Both piezoelectric and giant magnetostrictive actuators are considered to be suitable for precise positioning of tools in machine tools, especially because of their dynamic properties. Nevertheless, there are still some technological problems to be solved in order to get these actuators widely accepted in precision machine tools. Piezoelectric and giant magnetostrictive actuators are competing solutions at the same time. Based on the experimental data and theoretical possible values, piezoelectric and giant magnetostrictive actuators are compared with each other concerning their performance in positioning precision (resolution, repeatability, hysteresis, aging and influence of the temperature fluctuation), working force, dynamic performance (eigenfrequency and controllability), operating temperature range, stroke, volume and power consumption. As results, both piezoelectric and giant magnetostrictive actuators are revealed to be good alternatives for electromagnetical actuators and hold great potential to play a meaningful role in precision machine tools.