Flextensional barium strontium titanate actuators

This paper describes the performance of the cymbal flextensional transducer using Dy-doped barium strontium titanate (BST) as the driver material. BST was first characterized for its dielectric and loss behavior as a function of temperature and electrical bias field. With no electrical bias, the transition temperature was measured to be near 20°C and have a dielectric constant >20 000. The strain of a BST disk was then measured and compared with other ceramics. At room temperature the strain and average effective piezoelectric d₃₃ of this non-lead composition was slightly larger than Navy type I lead zirconate titanate (PZT-4) ceramic. The strain/field behavior was also measured as a function of temperature. Cymbal capped BST ceramic was found to have an amplified displacement of 28×, also very similar to type I ceramic. The stiffness of BST was found to be tunable by dc voltage and 2 to 3 times larger than that of PZT. This material has promise for applications in actuators and transducers with large generative force.