Achieving smooth motion in displacement amplification piezoelectric stick–slip actuator

Traditional piezoelectric stick–slip actuators often suffer from significant backward motion phenomena, which greatly impact their output performance. To overcome this issue, a novel displacement amplification piezoelectric stick–slip actuator was meticulously designed. It integrates an L-shaped displacement amplification mechanism with a parallelogram-compliant mechanism. By dynamically adjusting the compressive force between the stator and the mover, this actuator effectively increases the single-step displacement, resulting in smooth and stable motion output. The design process involved thorough structural feasibility validation and core dimension optimization, utilizing Castigliano’s second theorem and finite element simulation analysis. These efforts successfully yielded a substantial increase in the single-step output displacement. Experimental results demonstrate the actuator’s capability to achieve smooth and stable motion output, even under challenging conditions, such as symmetric excitation signals and horizontal loading. Under specific operating parameters—preloading force of 3 N, input voltage of 100 VP–P, and driving frequency of 625 Hz sinusoidal excitation signal, the actuator achieves an impressive maximum driving speed of 25.22 mm/s, with a substantial maximum load capacity of 2.1 N. Compared to previous studies, the designed actuator exhibits superior adaptability to various excitation signals, offering significant potential for enhancing the performance and expanding the applications of piezoelectric stick–slip actuators.