Study on electroelastic field concentration around the electrode tip in multilayer ferroelectric actuators

Distribution of electromechanical field near electrode tips is closely related to the reliability of ferroelectric multilayer actuators. In this paper, the deformation and stress concentrations around the electrode tip in two multilayer actuator designs, partially and fully cofired, are investigated by means of experimental measurement and numerical simulations. The digital speckle correlation method (DSCM) is used to measure the full displacement field near the electrode tip with the high spatial resolution. The paths of electric breakdown and cracks initiated from the edge of electrodes were observed. With the proposed Double Gibbs free energy criterion, a fully coupled nonlinear electromechanical finite element method based on domain-switching mechanisms is developed and the simulation results agree well with the experiments. It is found that the crack-like “defects” in the partially cofired layered actuators, i.e. the interlayer gaps filled with soft insulating wax, can significantly reduce the maximum tensile stress level compared with that in “perfect” fully cofired actuators, which implies that the partially cofired design is more reliable than the fully cofired one. Further optimization on geometrical dimension of actuators is also carried out.