Abstract
This talk intends to cover three different active materials in actuators, (1) piezoelectric laminate with FGM microstructure, (2) ferromagnetic shape memory alloy (FSMA) and (3) electroactive polymer (EAP). The advantage of using the FGM piezo laminate is to enhance its fatigue life while maintaining large bending displacement, while that of use in FSMA is its fast actuation while providing a large force and stroke capability and that of EAP is to provide largest displacement under modest applied voltage. Use of modeling of the above active materials is a key design step in optimizing its microstructure for enhancement of their performance.
