One of the major programs being undertaken in our unit is, development of actuator materials and conversion of these materials into multilayer actuator devices. In order to achieve this objective, development of piezoelectric and electrostrictive materials are also being attempted. A simple and novel chemical precipitation route has been adopted for the synthesis of nano-actuator materials. Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) powder, free of agglomerates, phase pure, good chemical homogeneity and of 50 - 75 nm size has been synthesized. Synthesis of nano Ba(Sn,Ti)O₃ which shows linear, nearly hysteresis free strain curve is also discussed. Phase pure electrostrictive Lead Magnesium Niobate-Lead Titanate (PMN-PT) powder with a dielectric constant of 25,000 and a Tc of 38°C was prepared through double-step process. C-MET has state of the art facility for multilayer (ML) ceramic processing. These Nano-PZT powders have been converted into 50 micron green tapes through tape casting technique. Characteristics of these synthesized materials and the fabrication of ML actuators there from are presented.

Date Published: 14 October 2003
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 5062, Smart Materials, Structures, and Systems, (14 October 2003); doi: 10.1117/12.514575

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5062:
Smart Materials, Structures, and Systems
S. Mohan; B. Dattaguru; S. Gopalakrishnan, Editor(s)