Evaluation of the constitutive material parameters for the numerical modelling of structures with lead–zirconate–titanate thick films

We present a combined experimental and numerical procedure for the characterisation of thick lead–zirconate–titanate (PZT) films, which was used to obtain the material parameters for a finite-element (FE) model of a thick-film quasi-static bending actuator. Due to the lack of standardised characterisation techniques for measuring the elastic and piezoelectric properties of thick piezoelectric films, non-conventional experimental techniques were implemented as follows: nano-indentation measurements were performed to evaluate the material compliance, and an adapted substrate-flexure method was used to measure the transverse piezoelectric coefficients of the thick PZT film. Good agreement between the results from the numerical and experimental analyses validated the model and confirmed the applicability of the proposed characterisation procedure.