Intelligent Process Monitoring of Multilayer Ceramic Actuators Using High Temperature Optical Fiber Displacement Sensors

The Fiber & Electro-Optics Research Center (FEORC) has developed a sensing technique for the intelligent processing of a multilayer ceramic actuator (MCA) elements manufactured by the AVX Corporation in Conway, South Carolina. Presented are the results of the fiber optic strain sensor used to monitor the burnout of organic binders from a green actuator sam ple. The results establish the operation of the short gage length, low finesse Fabry-Perot interferometric strain sensor as a tool for intelligent processing of such ceramic actuator elements. Also pre sented is the method of sensor operation, and post-processing results using the same sensor for tracking actuator performance and hysteresis.