High-frequency fatigue test of metallic thin films using PVDF microactuator

Novel high-frequency bending fatigue test method for sputtered metallic thin films using PVDF microactuator is proposed. Thin film titanium specimen as an example and a PVDF piezoelectric microactuator are fabricated. The specimen is stamped on this actuator and the actuator is vibrated at its resonance frequency until the specimen fails by fatigue. The stress in the specimen is calculated from vibration amplitude. By using the proposed method, the stress-fatigue life cycle (S-N) curve of the thin film titanium is obtained over 50 times faster than conventional method.