Mounting and Handling Guidelines

Adherence to the followingguidelines will help you obtain maximum performance and lifetime from your piezo actu- ators: Do not use metal tools for actuator handling. Do not scratch the coating on the side surfaces. The following precau-tions are recommended duringhandling of piezoelectric actua- tors:I. Piezoelectric stack actuatorswithout axial preload are sensitive to pulling forces. A preload of up to 50% of the blocking force is generally recommended. II. Piezoelectric stack actuatorsmay be stressed in the axialdirection only. The appliedforce must be centered very well. Tilting and shearing forces, which can also be in- duced by parallelism errors of the endplates, have to beavoided because they willdamage the actuator. This can be ensured by the use of ball tips, flexible tips, adequate guiding mecha- nisms etc. An exception to this requirement is made forthe PICA™-Shear industrial actuators,because they operate in the shear direction. III. Piezoelectric stack actuatorscan be mounted by gluing them between even metal or ceramic surfaces by a cold or hot curing epoxy,respectively. Ground sur-faces are preferred. Please, do not exceed the specified working temperature range
No pulling force without preload. No lateral force or torque. Ball tips or flexures to decouple lateral forces or bending forces. Ball tips or flexures to decouple bending forces. of the actuator during curing. IV. The environment of all actu-ators should be as dry aspossible. PICMA
® actuatorsare guarded against humid-ity by their ceramic coating.Other actuators must be pro-tected by other measures(hermetic sealing, dry airflow, etc). The combination of long-term high electric DC fields and high relative humidity values should be avoided with all piezoelectric actua- tors. V. It is important to shortcir-cuit the piezoelectric stack actuators during any hand- ling operation. Temperature changes and load changes will induce charges on thestack electrodes whichmight result in high electric fields if the leads are not shorted: Should the stack become charged, rapid dis- charging—especially with-out a preload—might dam-age the stack. Use a resistor for discharging. VI. Prevent any contaminationof the piezo ceramic sur- faces with conductive or corrosive substances. Iso- propanol is recommended for cleaning. Avoid acetoneand excessive ultrasoniccleaning at higher tempera- tures.
Bolting between plates is not recommended. © PI 1998-2005. Subject to change w/o notice. Cat 118 05/09.17 1-48