Size-dependent static bending and free vibration of 0–3 polarized PLZT microcantilevers

In this paper, analytical solutions for size-dependent static bending and free vibration of a pure 0–3 polarized PbLaZrTi (PLZT) cantilever are developed. This paper also makes the first attempt to investigate the static bending of a cantilever metal beam bonded with discretized 0–3 polarized PLZT actuator based on the modified couple stress theory and composite laminated beam theory. These models involve an internal material length scale parameter used to capture the size effect. In the limit when the internal material length scale parameter goes to zero, this model reduces to classical (local) solutions available in the literature. Exact solutions for the normalized static deflection are obtained as a function of the actuator thickness and the internal material length scale parameter. The simulations show that the size-dependent results developed by the present models have a remarkable difference with those got by the classical solutions when the ratio of the actuator thickness to the internal material length scale parameter is small. It is also observed that an increase in the stiffness parameter of the substrate beam gives rise to an increase in the effect of the material length scale parameter on tip deflections of the cantilever metal beam. (paper)