White paper discusses multilayer piezo actuators

PI Ceramic has released a white paper on the development and test of reliable multilayer piezo actuators, which are suitable for use in challenging motion control applications.

Piezoelectric multilayer actuators have been used in fields as diverse as injection valves for combustion engines (speed) and atomic force microscopy (precision).

These types of actuators have been in use for about two decades and reached maturity several years ago, according to the company.

Continuous improvements are based on long-term tests and the exact knowledge of the environmental operating conditions and failure modes allows users to push the limits of this technology even further.

The paper describes the development and lifetime tests of ceramic encapsulated actuators under different operating conditions (DC and AC).

The actuators are comparable to polymer-coated piezo ceramic actuators in long-term tests.

The white paper also discusses equations and graphs for lifetime calculations under different operational and environmental conditions and special internal electrode designs.

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