Electrostrictive Properties of a PMN Stacked Actuator

Abstract
This paper reports a precise investigation of the fundamental electrostrictive properties of a Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-based ceramic stacked actuator, including the local distribution of the strain induced in the sample, the bias voltage dependence of the effective piezoelectric coefficient, the response speed of the displacement to an applied voltage, and the dependence on pressure and temperature. It was found that an applied voltage deforms the stacked actuator non-uniformly in an arc contour on the driving face. The 7 mm-thick device can generate a displacement up to 8.5 µm under a voltage of 1 kV with a 10 µs response. The maximum generative force reaches 1.7×104 N for a driving area of 3.8 cm2.