Dependence of Piezoelectric Properties on Layer Thickness for Multilayer Actuators

Abstract

In general, it has been reported that the piezoelectric properties in multilayer actuators decrease for layer thicknesses below 20 microns. This has been investigated for PXE55 which is a material based on PLZT-Pb(Mg 1/2 W 1/2 )O 3 and PG01 which is a low sintering version of this material. Results show that for the standard PXE55 material the piezoelectric properties decrease for layer thicknesses below 20 micron. However for the PG01 material, sintered at a lower temperature, the piezoelectric properties do not decrease significantly for layer thicknesses down to 10 micron. Measurements of the hysteresis loops do not show a difference between the two materials. The only difference which can be observed between the two materials is the grain size. In the PXE55 material a larger grain size and a broader distribution is observed compared to the PG01 material.

Large Strain in CuO‐added (Na0.2K0.8)NbO3 Ceramic for Use in Piezoelectric Multilayer Actuators

“…Recently, interest in the piezoelectric actuator has considerably increased owing to the development of mobile devices. In particular, multilayer ceramics are frequently used for the successful fabrication of piezoelectric actuators because they exhibit a high strain at low operating voltages . For application to multilayer actuators, piezoelectric ceramics must have a large electric‐field‐induced strain and a low sintering temperature to permit the use of Ag as the electrode because of the low melting temperature of Ag.…”

“…In particular, multilayer ceramics are frequently used for the successful fabrication of piezoelectric actuators because they exhibit a high strain at low operating voltages. 1,4 For application to multilayer actuators, piezoelectric ceramics must have a large electric-fieldinduced strain and a low sintering temperature to permit the use of Ag as the electrode because of the low melting temperature of Ag. Pb(Zr 1Àx Ti x )O 3 (PZT)-based piezoelectric ceramics have been used for piezoelectric actuators; however, since PZTbased ceramics contain more than 60 wt% PbO, which can cause environmental problems, investigations of lead-free piezoelectric ceramics have increased since the beginning of this century.…”

Effect of Li2O on the defect polarization in CuO‐added (K0.9Na0.1)NbO3 piezoelectric ceramics

“…Piezoelectric ceramics need to have a large electric‐field induced strain to enable their utilization as actuators . (1− x )PbTiO 3 − x PbZrO 3 (PZT)‐based ceramics have been widely used as piezoelectric actuators because of their high electric field‐induced strain . However, since PZT‐based ceramics contain a large amount of PbO (>60 wt%), they can cause serious environmental pollution.…”