Development of piezoelectric monomorph actuator using electrophoretic deposition

In the present work, investigation of the functional property of piezoelectric graded monomorph actuator systems is presented. The functional graded actuators were fabricated by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) using pure PZT and doped PZT materials. Actuators developed have shown gradual gradient variation in microstructure. It is noted that the trend in microstructural gradient does not represent similar trend in piezoelectric property gradient. The displacement of microstructural graded and both piezoelectric and microstructural graded actuators were measured in the static condition. The latter was also measured under dynamic condition. The results show that the proper gradient distribution of the piezoelectric properties is important to improve the electromechanical performance of the actuator.