The wide range of industrial applications for piezoelectric bending transducers as actuators and high-precision positioning systems require a performance that is adapted to the respective task. The geometric dimensions of individual active and passive layers, their sequence in the layer system and their elastomechanical and electromechanical properties are key factors here.

This book focuses on the analytical description of the static and dynamic behaviour of piezoelectric multilayer bending transducers. It is intended to provide students of natural and engineering sciences, in particular physics, micro- and precision engineering, measurement and sensor technology, mechatronics and automation technology, as well as engineers and scientists in practice with a solid technical tool for the design of piezoceramic bending transducers. The requirements for understanding the material are limited to basic knowledge of one- and multi-dimensional analysis as well as elementary Newtonian mechanics, technical mechanics and electricity.

The Author

Rüdiger G. Ballas studied Microsystems Engineering at Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences and completed his doctorate at TU Darmstadt in the field of piezoelectric bending transducers. He holds the professorship for Electrical Engineering at the Wilhelm Büchner University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt and has won several national and international awards in the field of piezoelectric materials and their applications. His research focuses in particular on piezoelectric materials, sensors and actuators as well as piezoelectric energy generation and (micro-)electromechanical systems (MEMS).

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rüdiger G. Ballas holds the professorship for electrical engineering and is at Wilhelm Büchner Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany. In addition to his activity as vice dean of the department of engineering sciences at Wilhelm Büchner Hochschule, his research activities focus in particular on piezoelectric materials, sensors and actuators as well as onpiezoelectric energy harvesting and (micro-)electromechanical systems (MEMS). Before his university career he held leading positions in research and development at different companies concerned with piezoelectric sensors and actuators. He earned his doctorate degree at Technical University Darmstadt, Germany for his research work in the field of piezoelectric multilayered bending actuators. During his pre-doctoral studies he already received several awards for outstanding work in the field of microstructuring of quartz crystals for high-frequency applications in modern telecommunications technologies. Furthermore, in2017 he received the IAAM Medal due to notable and outstanding contribution in the field of "New Age Technology & Innovations", Stockholm, Sweden. He is author of various publications and author/co-author of several textbooks published by the renowned publisher Springer Nature. Besides amateur astronomy, his passionate hobbies include playing acoustic fingerpicking/fingerstyle guitar and singing.