Design and Fabrication of the Muscle Mimicking Composite Actuator for Small Flying Object Using Single Crystal Piezoelectric Material

Studies on muscle mimicking piezo-composite actuators have been increased during the last two decade due to the possibility of various applications for compact lightweight actuators of small unmanned aircraft and biomimetic robots. Piezoelectric materials have been used in a variety of application ranging from shape control of structure, active vibration control of structure to noise suppression due to compact size and good frequency response. The conventional poly-crystal piezoelectric ceramic materials, however, have rather low actuating strains and displacement. In this paper, design and fabrication methods of actuator with single crystal piezoelectric material were investigated to increase actuation strain and displacement.