Modeling of the electromechanical performance of piezoelectric laminated microactuators

TLDR: In this article, a generalized analytical formulation of mechanical deformations as a function of applied electric field is derived for an arbitrary lay-up of piezoelectric microactuators.

Abstract: Piezoelectric microactuators may be considered as multilayer laminated composites consisting of alternating layers of piezoelectric and non-piezoelectric materials A generalized analytical formulation of mechanical deformations as a function of applied electric field is derived for an arbitrary lay-up of such laminates Based on the generalized theory developed, specific formulae for the electromechanical performance of two cantilever microactuator lay-up geometries including a single piezo/elastic laminate and a bimorph, are derived In the modeling of the electromechanical performance of piezoelectric microactuators, the present model incorporates both d211 and d222 Furthermore, the elastic properties of both the piezoelectric and the elastic materials have been considered The developed model is evaluated based on a comparison with results from experiment