Lead-free piezoceramic cymbal actuator

Lead-free piezoelectric ceramic 0.90(Bi1/2Na1/2)TiO3-0.05(Bi1/2K1/2)TiO3-0.05BaTiO3 (abbreviated as BNT-BKT-BT5) is used as the driving element in a cymbal actuator with titanium endcaps. Both the electrical and mechanical properties of the lead-free piezoceramic cymbal are compared with that of the lead zirconate titanate (PZT) cymbal. It is found that the performance of the lead-free ceramic cymbal actuator is comparable to those fabricated using hard PZT ceramic driving element because BNT-BKT-BT5 has reasonable piezoelectric coefficients and low density.