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Pre-stressed piezoelectric laminates, consisting of one or more metal layers and a piezoelectric material bonded together with an adhesive, have been widely studied over the past few years, both numerically and experimentally. Most of the current research has concentrated on the effect of the metal layers, types and geometry, along with variations in the active layer of the laminate. Historically, the adhesive layer has been neglected as a contributing factor in the overall performance of the final device. This paper attempts to address the effect of the adhesive line thickness and its influence on the performance of pre-stressed piezoelectric laminates under specific boundary conditions. All laminates tested were constructed with the following lay-up: 0.354 mm thick stainless steel, adhesive, 0.381 mm PZT ceramic, adhesive, and a 0.0254 mm aluminum layer. The devices having an adhesive line thickness of 0.169 mm were classified as group A, and group B were the devices with an adhesive line thickness of 0.036 mm. The adhesive line thickness for group A was approximately 21% more than the line thickness of group B. The devices were tested in a simply supported, free-free condition under a series of loads at a constant frequency of 5 Hz over a voltage range from 400 to 800 Volts peak-to-peak. Displacement was measured using loads of 25, 50, 75, 100, and 200 grams for each actuator. The data from each group was averaged and compared. The results showed group B generated more displacement at the same "arm weight" applied as compared to group A. However, only three samples for group B were measured since the rest of the samples failed during testing. Failure of the devices of group B may be due to the ultimate stress of the devices and their ability to lift a load under those conditions. The study demonstrated that adhesive layer thickness, along with the manufacturing process, has to be taken into account when developing an application that requires load-bearing capabilities. Even though no direct mechanical property measurements were taken to verify this theory, the results demonstrated that the adhesive does play a critical role in the performance of the device as an actuator and should be factored into both experimental and numerical studies to obtain more accurate predictions of the ultimate behavior of these devices.
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