Piezoelectric Ceramic Plate and blocks can achieve vertical/horizontal elongation as well as ultrasonic vibrations. When an electrical signal input is received, the plate or block piezo actuator deforms, generating physical movement, or vibrates when the input is an alternating voltage. This physical displacement generally activates a movement preforms some necessary adjustments needed to maintain smooth operation. When used as a piezo actuator, piezo plates offer greater displacement than piezo multilayer stack actuators, at the expense of reduced force and accuracy levels. However, plate and block piezo actuators have high response times, low power consumption, and long operating lifetime.

Piezoelectric Plates Applications

*1-3 Composites for SONAR and medical imaging * Linear ultrasonic motors
* Megasonic cleaning
* Non-destructive material testing
* Pressure sensors
* Sonar technology & hydroacoustics
* Tactile feedback (haptics)
* Ultrasonic sensors

When an electric field having the same polarity and orientation as the original polarization field is placed across the thickness of a single sheet of piezoceramic, the piece expands along the axis of polarization (thickness direction) and contracts perpendicular to the axis of polarization (length and width direction). The motion in the thickness direction is on the order of tens of nanometers. Motion in the length direction is typically on the order of microns or tens of microns.

Please note: These sheets are thin, brittle ceramic. For a more robust product, you may want to consider our robust standard piezo benders and extenders, or even consider customizing a piezo to assist your prototyping. Piezo sheets are the fundamental building blocks of piezo devices - check out their Material Properties.

The polarization mechanism of piezoelectric ceramics depends on its internal structure. Piezoelectric ceramics are made of many small grains irregularly "inlaid". Each small grain can be seen as a small single crystal, in which atoms (ions) are arranged regularly (periodically) to form a lattice, which is composed of repeated cells. The lattice directions of grains and grains are not necessarily the same, and they are still chaotic and irregular as a whole. In order to keep piezoelectric ceramics in the lowest state of energy (electrostatic energy and elastic properties), there will be a number of small regions in the grains. The spontaneous polarization of cells in each small region has the same direction, but the directions of spontaneous polarization between adjacent regions are different. The area with the same direction of spontaneous polarization is called electric domain, and the whole ceramic includes many electric domains.