With the recent active development of laser-based weapons/monitoring/communication systems, there is a significant increase in the demand for improved performance of piezoelectric actuators, a key component of both deformable mirror (DM) and fast steering mirror (FSM) in the systems. The conventional polycrystalline piezoelectric ceramic actuators have limitations in improving their characteristics, so the ultrahigh strain PMN-PZT piezoelectric single crystal multilayer actuators have been developed. In this study, the basic experimental methods were developed to evaluate their stability as well as reliability. The limitations of deformation and applied voltage were confirmed through the breakdown voltage test, and the degree of stability was confirmed through the hammering test. In this study, the breakdown voltage test and the hammering test were confirmed to be effective methods to evaluate their stability as well as reliability. Through these studies, the next-generation PMN-PZT piezoelectric single-crystal multilayer actuator is expected to be applied to various piezoelectric application fields by securing reliability as well as excellent piezoelectric properties.

Multilayered actuators using Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-Pb(In_1/2Nb_1/2)O₃-PbTiO₃ (PMN-PIN-PT) crystals have demonstrated excellent properties, but are costly and lack mechanical strength. Textured PMN-PIN-PT ceramics exhibit robust mechanical strength and comparable properties to their single crystals form. However, the development of multilayered actuators using textured PMN-PIN-PT ceramics has not been achieved until now. This study presents the development of a multilayered actuator using textured 0.37PMN-0.29PIN-0.34PT ceramics with an Ag0.9/Pd0.1 inner electrode, co-fired at 950℃. A random 0.37PMN- 0.29PIN-0.34PT ceramics multilayered actuator was also developed for comparison. The multilayered actuator consisted of 9 ceramic layers (36 μm thickness) with an overall actuator thickness of 0.401 mm. The textured and random 0.37PMN-0.29PIN- 0.34PT ceramics-based multilayered actuators achieved displacements of 0.61 μm (0.15% strain) and 0.23 μm (0.057% strain) at a low applied peak voltage of 100 V. These results suggest that the developed multilayered actuator using high-performance textured 0.37PMN-0.29PIN-0.34PT ceramics has the potential to replace expensive single crystal-based actuators costeffectively.

Piezoelectric actuators, which utilize piezoelectric crystals or ceramics, are commonly used in precision positioning applications, offering high-speed response and precise control. However, the use of low-performance ceramics and expensive single crystals is limiting their versatile use in the actuator market, necessitating the development of both high-performance and cost-effective piezoelectric materials capable of delivering higher forces and displacements. The use of textured Pb (lead)-based piezoelectric ceramics formed by so-called templated grain growth method has been identified as a promising strategy to address the performance and cost issue. This review article provides insights into recent advances in texturing Pb-based piezoelectric ceramics for improved performance in actuation applications. We discussed the relevant issues in detail focusing on current challenges and emerging trends in the textured piezoelectric ceramics for their reliability and performance in actuator applications. We discussed in detail focusing on current challenges and emerging trends of textured piezoelectric ceramics for their reliability and performance in actuator applications. In conclusion, the article provides an outlook on the future direction of textured piezoelectric ceramics in actuator applications, highlighting the potential for further success in this field.

Soft robots are promising devices for applications in drug delivery, sensing, and manufacturing. Traditional hard robotics are manufactured with rigid materials and their degrees of motion are constrained by the orientation of the joints. In contrast to rigid counterpart, soft robotics, employing soft and stretchable materials that easily deforms in shape, can realize complex motions (i.e., locomotion, swimming, and grappling) with a simple structure, and easily adapt to dynamic environment. Among them, the magnetic actuators exhibit unique characteristics such as rapid and accurate motion control, biocompatibility, and facile remote controllability, which make them promising candidates for the next-generation soft robots. Especially, the magnetic actuators instantly response to the stimuli, and show no-hysteresis during the recovery process, essential for continuous motion control. Here, we present the state-of-the-art fabrication process of magnetically controllable nano-/micro-composites, magnetically aligning process of the composites, and 1-dimensional/multi-dimensional multimodal motion control for the next-generation soft actuators.

Over the past decade, small robots have been of particular interest in the engineering field. Among the various types of small robots, biomimetic robots, which mimic animals and insects, have been developed for special activities in areas where humans cannot physically access. The optimal motion of a walking robot can be determined by the characteristics of the traversed surface (e.g., roughness, curvature, slope, materials, etc.). This study proposes three types of piezoelectric structures using different driving mechanisms, depending on the application range of the small walking robots. Dynamic modeling using computer-aided engineering optimized the shape of the robot to maximize its moving characteristics, and the results were also verified through its fabrication and experimentation. Three types of robots, named by their actuator shapes as I, π, & T-shape, were proposed regarding application for small scale ambulatory robots to different terrain conditions. Among these, the T-shaped robots were shown to have a wide range of speeds (from 2 mm/s up to 255 mm/s) and good carrying capacity (up to 10 g at 50 mm/s) through driving experiments. Based on this study, we proposed possible application areas for the three types of walking robot actuators.

A linear piezoelectric actuator that utilizes the elliptical motion of the two tips of the actuator is proposed. This device is easy to fabricate owing to its simple structure, consisting of three piezo ceramic benders and is suitable for use in micro robotic applications. A π-shaped structure, which was composed of four piezo ceramic benders, was constructed. Two of the benders were positioned on the center of the actuator, and the joints were attached at the ends of the cantilever. The other two benders were positioned on the side of the actuator and were attached between the joint and the tips. The actuator structure was designed to obtain the first bending mode of the horizontal vibration and the vertical vibration at the same frequency, resulting in elliptical motions at the tips. When two sinusoidal wave voltages with a 90-degree phase difference were applied to the two pairs of the actuator benders, elliptical motions were obtained at the tips. The driving characteristics of the prototype actuator were then measured using a laser doppler vibrometer.

A newly proposed T-shape piezoelectric actuator, composed of piezoelectric benders, was designed and studied. This actuator has four legs, and can walk in both forward and backward directions. The piezoelectric actuator has a simple structure and can be easily fabricated. It consists of a piezoelectric bender and a joint. The piezoelectric bender is composed of carbon and ceramic materials. Therefore, there is an advantage in that it can be fabricated on a very small scale. Elliptical displacements of the piezoelectric actuators were analyzed by finite element analysis. Elliptical motion at the tip occurred at two voltages having a 90-degree phase difference. Based on the finite element analysis results, prototype actuators with maximum displacements were fabricated, and the characteristics of their movements were characterized.

Pb(Zr, Ti)O₃ (PZT) is a piezoelectric material applied in a typical actuator and has been actively studied. However, in order to overcome the limitations of PZT, piezoelectric ceramics comprising mixed solid solutions of PZT with various relaxer electric materials have been studied. The Pb(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)-Pb(Ni_1/3Nb_2/3)-Pb(Zr, Ti)O₃ (PZN-PNN-PZT) piezoelectric ceramic, known to have high piezoelectric constant and electromechanical coupling coefficient, was studied herein. The piezoelectric characteristics with various Zr contents (Zr/Ti ratios), PZN molar ratios, and sintering temperatures were compared. The piezoelectric properties of d₃₃＝580 pC/N and kP＝0.68 were obtained with the 0.1PZN-0.2PNN-0.7PbZr_0.46Ti_0.54O₃ composition sintered at 1,290℃.

Electrical relay in an essential part of smart grids, electrical vehicles, and LED lightning systems. Therefore, studying relay reliability is important. Relays using permanent magnet actuators (PMAs), which are energy efficient, are also in the spotlight. However, most of the permanent magnets used in PMAs have a characteristic wherein the magnetic flux decreases as the temperature increases. When the magnetic flux is reduced, the force acting on the actuator is reduced. Therefore, in this study, we measured the decrease in the relay operating speed with permanent magnet reduction due to temperature rise. In addition, changes in the bouncing phenomena due to magnetic flux reduction were analyzed. As a result, the operating speed of the relay has decreased and the bouncing phenomenon has not significantly changed.

A piezoelectric cantilever energy harvester (PCEH) driven in longitudinal (3-3) vibration mode was fabricated, and its electrical properties were evaluated by varying the resistive load. A commercial PZT piezoelectric ceramic with a high piezoelectric charge constant (d₃₃) of 520 pC/N and the interdigitated (IDT) electrode pattern was used to fabricate the PCEH driven in longitudinal vibration. The IDT Ag electrode embedded piezoelectric laminates were co-fired at 850℃ for 2 h. The 3-3 mode PCEH was successfully fabricated by attaching the piezoelectric laminates to a SUS304 elastic substrate. The PCEH exhibited a high output power of 3.8 mW across the resistive load of 100 kΩ at 100 Hz and 1.5 G. This corresponds to a power density of 10.3 mW/cm³ and a normalized global power factor of 4.56 mW/g²·cm³. Given the other PCEH driven in transverse (3-1) vibration mode, the 3-3 mode PCEH could be better for vibration energy harvesting applications.

To investigate excess Na⁺ effect, Bi_0.5(Na_0.78+xK_0.22)0.5TiO₃ (0≤x≤0.05) (BNKT) ceramics were prepared by using a conventional solid-state reaction method. The structure and ferroelectric properties of BNKT ceramics were characterized by XRD (X-ray diffraction) and polarization dependence by external electric field. Also, the temperature dependence of dielectric constant and loss were studied. From these results, it was found that appropriate excess Na⁺ into BNKT ceramics compensate the volatility and induce dense ceramics. The enhanced piezoelectric coefficient (158 pC/N) and depolarization temperature (202℃) were obtained for the x=0.01 composition.

Characteristics of a wireless sensor powered by the IDE (interdigitated electrode) embedded piezoelectric cantilever generator were analyzed in order to evaluate its potential for use in wireless sensor applications. The IDE embedded piezoelectric cantilever was designed and fabricated to have a self-resonance frequency of 126 Hz and acceleration of 1.57 G, respectively, for the mechanical resonance with a practical conveyor system in a thermal-power plant. It produced maximum output power of 2.81 mW under the resistive load of 160 Ω at 126 Hz. The wireless sensor module is electrically connected to a rectifier capacitor with capacity of 0.68 farad and 3.8 V for power supply by the piezoelectric cantilever generator. The unloaded capacitor could be charged as a rate of approximately 365 ㎶/s while the capacitor exhibited that of 0.997 mV/min. during communication under low duty cycle of 0.2%. Therefore, it is considered that the fabricated IDE embedded piezoelectric cantilever generator can be used for wireless sensor applications.

Piezoelectric thick films of soft Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) based commercial material (S55) were fabricated using a conventional tape casting method. Ag-Pd electrodes were printed on the piezoelectric film at room temperature and all 5 layered films with a dimension of 12 ㎜× 16 ㎜were successfully laminated for a multi-layered piezoelectric ceramic actuator. The laminated specimens were co-fired at 1,100℃ for 1 h. A flat layered and dense microstructure was obtained for the 112 ㎛thick piezoelectric actuator after sintering process. Thereafter, a prototype piezoelectric speaker was fabricated using the multi-layered piezoelectric ceramic actuator which can operate as a bimorph. Its SPL (sound pressure level) characteristic was also evaluated for speaker application. Frequency response revealed that the output SPL with a root mean square voltage of 10 V increased gradually to the highest peak of 87.5 dB for 1.5 kHz and exhibited a relatively stable behavior over the measured frequency range (≤20 kHz) at a distance of 10 cm, implying that the fabricated piezoelectric speaker is potential for speaker applications.

Piezoelectric thick films of a soft Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) based commercial material were produced by a conventional tape casting method. Thereafter, the interdigitated (IDT) Ag-Pd electrode pattern was printed on the 25 ㎛ thick piezoelectric film at room temperature. Co-firing of the 10-layer laminated piezoelectric thick films was conducted at 1,100℃ and 1,150℃ for 1 h, respectively. Piezoelectric cantilever energy harvesters were successfully fabricated using the IDT electrode pattern embedded piezoelectric laminates for 3-3 operation mode. Their energy harvesting characteristics were investigated with an excitation of 120 Hz and 1 g under various resistive loads (ranging from 10 kΩ to 200 kΩ). A parabolic increase of voltage and a linear decrease of current were shown with an increase of resistive load for all the energy harvesters. In particular, a high output power of 3.64 mW at 100 kΩ was obtained from the energy harvester (sintered at 1,150℃).

The haptic actuator needs to downsize in the mobile devices continuatively. In this work, the hinge lever mechanism was used in order to prevent lowering the vibration performances of the downsized actuator. The vibration performances of actuator with and without hinge-lever mechanism were simulated by the finite element method analysis. It is concluded that the hinge-lever mechanism may be a proper measure to prevent lowering the vibration performances in the downsized piezoelectric actuator.

A comparative study has been attempted for microwave and conventional sintering of lead-freeBi0.5Na0.5TiO3(BNT)-based multilayer ceramic actuators(MLAs). It was found that microwave sintering(MWS) could be successfully applied to the co-firing of piezoceramic/AgPd MLAs with a 10 timesshorter firing cycle as well as 100℃ lower firing temperature (850℃) for sufficient densification thanconventional furnace sintering (950℃). Furthermore, MWS-derived specimens showed better electricfield-induced strain than that of CFS-derived specimens by effectively suppressing interdiffusions betweenceramic and electrode layers.

The 0.99Bi0.5(Na0.78K0.22)0.5TiO3?0.01LaAlO3, 0.01LaMnO3 or 0.01LaFeO3 (0.99BNKT?0.01LA,0.01LM or 0.01LF) ceramics were prepared by a conventional mixed mothod. The structure andmorphology of the lead free ceramics were characterized by XRD (X-ray diffraction) and FE-SEM (fieldemission scanning electron microscopy). XRD results indicated that the BNKT ceramics modified by LA,LM or LF induced a transition from a ferroelectric tetragonal to a non-polar pseudo-cubic phase, leadingto decrease in the remnant polarization (Pr) and coercive field (Ec) in the P-E hysterisis loops. Theeffects of the BNKT ceramics modified by La-based ABO3 pervskite structure on the electric-fieldinduced strain were investigated, and the largest normalized unipolar strain (Smax/Emax) was found inBNKT-0.01LF ceramic.

For conventional electrical actuators, the materials are mainly made up of metals, which mean they are prone to corrosion and electrical sparking. Replacing these systems with polymer metal composite based materials can be solved both problems. Considering their excellent clcctromechanical property, low device fabricatioI1 cost, light weight, and go electrical conductivity, the actuator based on ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) was fabricated using Nafion film, NaOH 0. l molar solution, and Au electrode. IPMCs exhibit good electrostatic property which means they can in principle be used in making actuators based on electromechanical motions. The resistance measurements or Nafion film after soaking in NaOH and deionized water were demonstrated and compared each other. The result of samPle soaked in NaOH showed better ejcal conductivity thall in deionized water. The fabricate匕1 IPMC actuator exhibits a l large deformation of bending dusplacement of approximately 9 mm with applied low AC voltage 6.89 V at 2. 84 Hz. The result of computer simulation was also very similar and shown as a bending displacement of 8. 6085 mm.

In this study, KNbO3-substituted (Li,Na,K)(Nb,Sb,Ta)O3 ceramics were investigated to develop Pb-free composition ceramics for multilayer actuator and energy harvester applications. The X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that all samples were pure perovskite phase and no secondary phase was found. A tetragonality as a function of KNbO3 substitution showed the maximum value at 1.5 mol% KNbO3 and then decreased. The SEM image analysis showed the maximum grain size of 3.14 ㎛ at 1.5mol% KNbO3. In the composition ceramics with 1.5 mol% KNbO3 sintered at 1,100℃, excellent properties of density= 4.75 g/cm3, electromechanical coupling factor (kp)= 0.50 and piezoelectric constant(d33)= 290 pC/N were obtained, respectively, suitable for piezoelectric actuator and energy harvester applications.

A piezoelectric ultrasonic bone surgical instrument, usually used to remove the tartar out of teeth or to cut the dentine of the tooth, is a recently popular instrument for dental treatment due to its several merits such as small size, low-electric power and precision control of surgical operation. It has typically two parts of a tip and vibration system which is also composed of head, piezoelectric elements and tail-mass. In order to improve the performance of the instrument, it is important to standardize the size of the vibration system without tip for high performance. In this study, a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was utilized to optimize the structure of ultrasonic instrument in vibration system. Consequently, this study revealed that influence of several tips on property were minimized and it showed good property at the frequency range of 22∼32 kHz.

Owing to the rapid growth of mobile and electronic equipment miniaturization technology, the supply of micro mobile computing machine has been fast raised. Accordingly they have performed many researches on energy harvesting technology to provide promising power supply equipment to substitute existing batteries. In this paper, in order to have low resonance frequency for piezoelectric energy harvester, we have tried to make it larger than before by adopting nickel that has much higher density than silicon. We have applied it for our energy harvesting actuator instead of the existing silicon based actuator. Through such new concept and approach, we have designed energy harvesting device and made it personally by making with micromachining process. The energy harvester structure has a cantilever type and has a dimension of 10×2.5×0.1 mm3 for length, width and thickness respectively. Its electrode type is formed by using Au/Ti of interdigitate d33 mode. The pattern size and gap size is 50 μm. Based on the measurement of the nickel-based piezoelectric energy harvester, it is found to have 778 Hz for a resonant frequency with no proof mass. In that resonance frequency we could get a maximum output power of 76 μW at 4.8 MΩ being applied with 1 g acceleration.

1 mol% Li2O excess 0.9(Na0.52K0.48)NbO3-0.1LiTaO3 lead-free piezoelectric multilayer ceramic actuators were investigated to determine their aging properties. To reduce the thermal aging behavior, we applied a rectified unipolar electric field of 5 kV/mm to the specimen to accelerate the electric aging behavior. By employing a rectified unipolar electric field for the piezoelectric actuators, we could remove undesirable heating from the relaxation current in the motion of the ferroelectric domain. To accelerate the aging test, the applied electric fields had a frequency of 900 Hz. To have enough time for charging and discharging, we employed an accurate time constant to design the equivalent circuit model for the aging tester. To extract exact aging behavior, we measured the pseudo-piezoelectric coefficient before and after the aging process. We also measured the electro-mechanical coupling coefficient, the frequency-dependent dielectric permittivity, and the impedance to compare with fresh and aged specimen.

In this study, lead-free (K0.5Na0.5+X)(Nb0.96Sb0.04)O3+0.2mol%La2O3+1.2mol% K4CuNb8O23 (X= 0∼0.025) ceramics were fabricated by normal sintering method at 1060℃ for 5 h. Microstructures, piezoelectric and dielectric properties of specimens were investigated with special emphasis in the influence of Na excess addition. The grain size of specimen was slightly decreased with increasing Na content. In the 2 [mol%] Na excess addition of NKNS ceramics, density, electromechanical coupling factor, piezoelectric constant and electromechancal quality factor of specimen were found to reach the optimum values of 4.25 [g/cm3], 0.4357, 154.43 [pC/N] and 580, respectively.