Electrophoretic deposition and characterization of a piezoelectric FGM monomorph actuator

In this paper, a piezoelectric ceramic FGM monomorph was fabricated using electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique. The fabrication process was investigated. The phase and microstructure of the FGM actuator were examined using XRD and SEM, respectively. Single-tetragonal-phase perovskite structure and gradient microstructure were observed. The electric-field-induced displacement of the actuator was measured under the electric field ranging from 0.32 to 6.77 kV/mm. With the increase of the driving field, the hysteresis became large; and at around 3.22 kV/mm, the hysteresis loop began to turn to a butterfly shape. The maximum displacement obtained was about 40 μm under an electric field of 3.22 kV/mm.