Characteristics of electromechanical solid state multilayer actuators

In this study we compare the responses of stacked actuators made of "soft" ferroelectrics to those of less common materials such as electrostrictive and antiferroelectric to ferroelectric phase-switching ceramics. The same measurements were performed on various samples which were identical in size and manufacturing technology. The latest material results on relaxor-based single crystals were considered to give a more comprehensive overview. Additionally, we discussed the clamping effects caused by the actuator structure, which have to be taken into account comparing the stack results to pure material response.