Properties and applications of cymbal piezocomposites

The: metal-ceramic composite actuators, moonies and cymbals consist in capp ed piezoceramic disks with metallic endcaps having cavities inside. These c avities favour the amplification of direct and reverse piezoelectric effect s. These actuators fill the gap between high displacement low generative fo rce bimorph actuators and low displacement high generative force multilayer ceramic actuators. The moonie actuator can give displacements greater than 100 mm, maximum generative force of 3N to several N's, response time of 20 to 100 ms, and low fatigue test response for more than 10(7) cycles. Cymba ls actuators shows twice as big as displacement than moonie for the studied size, much higher generative force and the possibility to avoid the temper ature dependence of the displacement for selected materials. Properties of cymbal actuators can be tailored trough the selection of materials. Also, c ymbal actuators can be tuned to adopt different resonance frequencies.