A novel structured multilayer piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator that combined the merits of high displacement/voltage sensitivity, high resonance frequency and low costs has been designed and successfully fabricated using the thick-film screen printing technology. Its structural, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties were also characterized. Experimental results show that the average grain size, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties of the PZT thick-film multilayer actuators are strongly dependent on processing conditions. Under the driving voltage of 10 V, a displacement value of 1.57 μm is obtained, and the corresponding resonance frequency is 56.9 kHz. Only a few layers are required to construct this multimorph actuator, instead of tens or even hundreds of layers that a conventional stacked multilayer actuator requires in order to realize a large displacement, thus greatly reducing manufacturing costs. The multimorph actuator presented in this paper provides a valuable alternative for actuator applications beyond those available with the popular bimorph and longitudinal multilayer actuators, such as for the second-stage track following control in computer hard disk drives.
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