Experimental investigation of amplified piezoelectric stack actuators 50XS, 60S and 120S for the actuation of microgrippers

Amplified Piezoelectric Actuator (APA), is a mechanical amplified preloaded stack actuator increasingly popular in micro actuation. Subsequently, piezoelectric stack actuators have been utilized often in microgripping applications due to its large force and precise micro displacement. This paper presents the experimental testing and results of Amplified Piezoelectric Actuators (APA) APA 50SX, APA 60S and APA 120S which can be used for actuation of a 2-DOF compliant microgripper. In this work a static force measurement experimental arrangement has been setup to measure and get the graphical relationship of Force-Displacement-Voltage which can be used determine the input force to the microgripper at various displacement and voltage levels. The above three APA's are tested and APA 120S is found to be the most suitable option whose data is then validated on the microgripper experimental arrangement. An average deviation of 9.74% is observed from the real-time measured values and 10.33% deviation from the FEM results. The obtained values are in good correlation and the experimental test procedure provides the complete static data for the above actuators.