Fabrication and modeling of porous FGM piezoelectric actuators

The elastic behavior of porous piezo-laminates actuators is developed using modified classical lamination theory (CLT). The curvature is obtained for porous piezoelectric laminate with functionally graded microstructure (FGM) under applied voltage throughout its thickness. The porous FGM system consists of multi porous piezoelectric layers where the porosity gradient increases in the thickness direction. The porous FGM actuator is fabricated by co-sintering powder compacts of PZT and stearic acid in air. The electroelastic properties of each layer in the FGM systems were measured and used as input data in the analytical model to predict the FGM actuator curvature. Two optimization techniques are employed to enhance the performance of the porous FGM actuators: (1) Thickness of each layer in the porous FGM actuator, (2) Number of layer in the porous FGM actuator. The thickness of each layer in the FGM system is made to vary in a linear or non-linear manner by changing the FGM thickness exponent. Two, three, and five layer porous FGM systems are investigated to obtain the maximum curvature. The analytical predictions are found to agree well with the experimental measurements.

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