A high-temperature piezoelectric linear actuator operating in two orthogonal first bending modes

Conventionally, piezoelectric ultrasonic linear actuators operate in longitudinal and bending combination (degenerate) modes for producing an elliptic motion which drives a slider moving linearly. With the increasing temperature, the degenerate mode will split into two separated modes again, resulting in piezoelectric actuators working to fail. Here, we report a miniature piezoelectric ultrasonic linear actuator made of Mn modified (1-x)BiScO3-xPbTiO(3) piezoelectric ceramics operating in two orthogonal first bending modes (B-1-B-1). The B-1-B-1 mode linear actuator showed much better load and speed temperature stability than piezoelectric actuators operating in different combination mode in the investigated temperature range of room temperature to 200 degrees C. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4790278]