Design of PZT–Pt functionally graded piezoelectric material for low-frequency actuation applications

In this article, simulation for PbZr _0.516 Ti _0.484 (lead zirconate titanate)–Pt functionally graded piezoelectric material bimorph actuator is carried out. It consists of seven layers of lead zirconate titanate–Pt with a symmetric composition profile from the center (0% Pt, 10% Pt, 20% Pt, 30% Pt, 20% Pt, 10% Pt, and 0% Pt%). The structural parameters which include length, width, and thicknesses of piezoelectric layers and substrate layer (30% Pt) are optimized based on their first resonance frequency. The bimorph actuator based on optimized parameters shows the first resonance frequency at 960 Hz as compared to resonance frequency (7761 Hz) of original design of functionally graded piezoelectric materials. Large actuation is observed in functionally graded piezoelectric materials of proposed design. The proposed functionally graded piezoelectric material actuator can be effectively used at low frequency (960 Hz) with high tip displacement (35 µm) under 500 V. This work is helpful in fabricating functionally graded piezoelectric materials for specific applications.