HIPER-ACT · Novel technology for HIgh-PERformance piezoelectric Actuators

Piezoelectric multilayer actuators performance and reliability needs to be improved to meet the growing demand from end-users with many different types of applications. The high production costs and problems related to obtaining reliable components explain that the utilization of piezo actuators up to now is far from having reached its full potential. Noliac and its partners for the IP are proposing a radical innovation in the piezoelectricity field, based on an enhanced understanding of materials degradation. This will greatly improve the properties of long actuators, and thereby allow end-users to use them for new industrial applications. The actuators shall be able to sustain extreme conditions, including high temperature, humid environment, and high pressure and will provide extreme long-term reliability. The activities are divided in 4 work areas: • Research in materials degradation and the development of ceramics, which offer better resistance to crack initiation and propagation and are less sensitive to extreme conditions (WP2-WP4). • Two parallel approaches are followed to improve the interdigitated electrode technology for deposition ultra-narrow electrode paths in the laminated piezo materials (WP5-WP6). • The development of optimized final components will be insured by the combination of the new piezoelectric materials with the new electrode technology (WP7). • Industrial applications for the automotive-, production- and wind power industries. These applications require large size piezoceramic actuators, which can be produced efficiently at low cost with high manufacturing yield (WP8-WP11). The identification of the new piezoelectric actuators is expected to provide a radical innovation in terms of new possible applications in major industrial markets worldwide.