Development of novel piezoceramic actuator modules for the embedding in intelligent lightweight structures

Purpose: Piezoceramic actuators in lightweight structures enable a purposeful manipulation of the dynamic and vibroacoustic structural behaviour. Above it, further studies focus on the application of thin and flexible piezoceramic modules as power sources in morphing structures aiming at a shape adaptation.Design/methodology/approach: A specific example of novel morphing structures is introduced, which rely on multistable deformation phenomena of fibre-reinforced composites with an unsymmetric lay-up. For the large-scale capable utilisation of such active struc tural parts made of fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites, novel piezoceramic modules, which are specifically tailored to the structural material, and required manufacturing methods are developed.Findings: The piezoceramic modules with the highly regarded compatibility to ther moplastic composites permit their substantially coherent and homogeneous integration in the fibre composite structure without intricate adhesive assembly effort. Furthermore, thermally induced residual compressive stresses during the manufacturing process serve for pur posefully prestressing the piezoceramic components to reduce the module’s sensitivity to tensile loading.Research limitations/implications: For the manufacture of those novel piezoceramic modules, a continuously operating fabrication method has been developed. By the process-related integration of a hot press, residual compression stresses are thermally induced into the modules that considerably contribute to the decrease of the piezoceramic module’s sensitivity to tension.Originality/value: The successful development of the novel TPM offers a significant advancement in the efficieny within the large scale production of novel intelligent lightweight structures.