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Extended Life PZT Stack Test FixturePiezoelectric stacks are being sought to be used as actuators for precision positioning and deployment of mechanisms in future planetary missions. Beside the requirement for very high operation reliability, these actuators are required for operation at space environments that are considered harsh compared to normal terrestrial conditions.These environmental conditions include low and high temperatures and vacuum or high pressure. Additionally, the stacks are subjected to high stress and in some applications need to operate with a very long lifetime durability.Many of these requirements are beyond the current industry design margins for nominal terrestrial applications. In order to investigate some of the properties that will indicate the durability of such actuators and their limitations we have developed a new type of test fixture that can be easily integrated in various test chambers for simulating environmental conditions, can provide access for multiple measurements while being exposed to adjustable stress levels. We designed and built two test fixtures and these fixtures were made to be adjustable for testing stacks with different dimensions and can be easily used in small or large numbers. The properties that were measured using these fixtures include impedance, capacitance, dielectric loss factor, leakage current, displacement, breakdown voltage, and lifetime performance. The fixtures characteristics and the test capabilities are presented in this paper.
Document ID
20100032408
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Badescu, Mircea
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Sherrit, S.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Bao, X.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Aldrich, J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Bar-Cohen, Y.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Jones, C.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
February 7, 2009
Subject Category
Electronics And Electrical Engineering
Meeting Information
Meeting: Smart Structures and Materials and Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring
Location: San Diego, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: January 1, 2008
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
test fixtures
extended life test
piezoelectric devices

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