Creep characteristics of piezoelectric actuators

A major limitation of piezoelectric translator (PZT) actuators is their lack of accuracy originated from the hysteresis and creep. Nevertheless the creep phenomenon is an important factor in many applications of PZT actuators, but it has been investigated less frequently in comparison with the displacement hysteresis. In this article, we present a basic creep model with some parameters that have hysteresis properties which make it possible to predict an open loop response of PZT actuators based on these properties. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(00)02804-5].