METHOD FOR ACTIVATING AN ELECTROMECHANICAL ELEMENT

The invention relates to a method for activating at least one portion, to be specific a change portion, of an electromechanical element (3), comprising the following steps: providing an electromechanical element, wherein at least the change portion has at least two electrodes, which are spaced apart from one another, and arranged between the electrodes a polycrystalline and ferroelectric or ferroelectric-piezoelectric material with a multiplicity of domains, wherein, in an initial state, at least some of the domains have directions of polarization that are different from one another; generating an electrical field between the electrodes of the change portion by applying an electrical voltage in the form of at least one voltage pulse with a defined amplitude and a defined duration; transforming some of the domains with directions of polarization that are different from one another into a state of the same direction of polarization as a result of the at least one voltage pulse, and thereby producing an increase in the extent of the electromechanical element along a direction of extent V that is defined and persists without the presence of an electrical voltage, or transforming some of the domains with the same direction of polarization into a state with directions of polarization that differ from one another as a result of the at least one voltage pulse, and thereby producing a decrease in the extent of the electromechanical element along the direction of extent V that is defined and persists without the presence of an electrical voltage. The invention also relates to the use of an electromechanical element activated by this method as an adjusting element and to the arrangement of an electromechanical element activated by this method between two elements (1, 2) that are to be moved with respect to one another.