Shape Control of Piezolaminated Structure Using Poling Tuned Piezoelectric Actuators

Abstract

A technique known as poling direction tuning is proposed to improve the material performance of piezoelectric based actuators. The piezoelectric material used in actuation applications of thin structures operates in d31 mode; hence, a method is devised to increase the value of piezoelectric coefficient, d31. Poling direction of the piezoelectric material is altered to activate d31, d33, and d15 modes, simultaneously. The performance of actuator is evaluated at different poling angle and poling angle for best performance is found. A simply supported plate with a layer of actuator piezoelectric material at the bottom is used for simulation studies. The computational technique used for calculating the time history of the structure is a finite-element method. The controlled shape using a fixed actuator voltage is calculated for different piezoelectric materials under consideration. Influence of poling angle on the shape control of the structure is scrutinized and is found to vary from material to material. A large enhancement due to poling tuning is seen in the properties of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.35PbTiO3 (PMN-0.35PT), whereas other materials show very less improvement or even decay in the properties.