Electric field-induced nonlinear behavior of lead zirconate titanate piezoceramic actuators in bending mode
Sumit Sumit, S. R. Kane, A. K. Sinha, Rahul Shukla
Abstract
In this article, analytical solutions of piezoelectric bimorph and unimorph actuator in cantilever configurations are developed using the second-order constitutive equation. Tip deflection ratio (TDR), a dimensionless parameter, is defined to analyze the effect of second-order coefficients of piezoelectric materials on the response of bimorph and unimorph actuators. Four piezoelectric unimorphs of varying geometries are fabricated and tested to verify the nonlinear response under applied electric field. Furthermore, second-order coefficients of lead zirconate titanate (PZT; APC 850) are derived by fitting the experimental data with nonlinear analytical solution. The nonlinear response of all the piezoelectric unimorphs compares well with the experimental results.