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The lifetime of a piezoelectricactuator is not limited by wear
and tear. All PI Ceramic piezo
actuators are specifically
designed for high-duty-cycle
applications. All materials used
are matched for robustness
and lifetime. Endurance testson PI Ceramic actuators proveconsistent performance, even
after billions (1,000,000,000) ofcycles. There is no generic
equation to determine the life-time because of the manyparameters such as tempera-
ture, humidity, voltage, acceler-
ation, load, operating frequen-
cy, insulation materials, etc.
which have an influence.PICMA Please contact your PI
sales & application engi-
neer for further infor-
mation on lifetime and
handling issues. Piezo · Nano · Positioning ® -type actuators haveadvantages over other piezo
actuators, especially in humid
environments. Their monolith-
ic, ceramic-insulated design
blocks the diffusion of water
molecules into the insulationlayer, the major cause of dielec-tric breakdown.PI Ceramic invests consider-able energy in investigating
and continually improvingactuator lifetime. The design ofthe piezoelectric actuators in
this catalog reflect several
decades of experience in with
thousands of industrial piezo
actuator applications. Another
result of this experience are the“Handling Precautions” in thefollowing section. PICMA ® piezo actuators (bottom curve) compared with conventional multilayer actuatorswith polymer insulation (top curve). PICMA ® Actuators are not affected by the high-humiditytest conditions. Conventional piezo actuators exhibit increased leakage current after only afew hours. Leakage current is an indication of insulation quality and expected lifetime. Test
conditions: U = 100 V DC ; T = 25 °C; Relative Humidity = 70% 51
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