Forced response of PZT glide heads

Mechanical Engineering, This paper studies forced response of PZT glide hea ds through calibrated experiments and finite element analyses. The PZT glid e heads consist of an Al2O3TiC slider and a PZT transducer. In the first pa rt of the research, the PZT transducer selves as an actuator exciting the g lide heads from 100 kHz to 1.3 MHz. A laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) and ar t impedance analyzer are used to measure frequency response functions (FRF) and PZT impedance. In addition, the response of the PZT glide heads is sim ulated through finite element analyses (FEA). The FEA predict the resonance frequencies with less than 5 percent difference. For the first two slider modes, the FEA also predict resonance amplitudes with good accuracy. In the second part of the research, the PZT transducer serves as a sensor, and th e glide head is subjected to an impact force. To produce short impacts expe rimentally, miniature balls are dropped to the glide heads. The impact forc e is estimated through the impact duration and the momentum change before a nd after the impact. Then the impact force and the PZT output voltage are p rocessed to produce FRF. Since the PZT sensor and its circuit form a high-p ass filter; the FEA need to consider the slider, rite PZT transducer and th e electric circuits simultaneously to produce meaningful results. The FEA p redictions agree with the experimental measurements for the first two slide r modes as well. [S0742-4787(00)01004-3].