A stick–slip piezoelectric actuator with high consistency in forward and reverse motions

This paper presents a stick–slip piezoelectric actuator with high consistency in performances of forward and reverse motions. It is achieved by developing an integrated stator which bonds two lead zirconate titanate ceramic plates to a symmetrical flexible hinge mechanism. The working principle of the actuator was introduced, and the stator was optimized by finite-element analysis. Experimental results showed that the proposed actuator had an excellent consistency in output performances of forward and reverse motions with or without an external load. The positioning resolution, maximum speed, and maximum loading capacity of the actuator were 0.061 µm, 2195.29 µm/s, and 1.1 N, respectively. This study provides a solution for improving the forward and reverse motion consistency of stick–slip piezoelectric actuators.