Novel hybrid piezo-electromagnetic actuator for micro-indentation loading

This study proposes a novel hybrid piezo-electromagnetic actuator (HPEA) which can keep output displacement without power supply. The actuator consists of an electromagnetic driving actuator and a piezoelectric clamping actuator. The electromagnetic driving actuator generates displacement and force, which can be hold by the piezoelectric clamping actuator. The theoretical model of HPEA is established, the corresponding governing equation is derived. The static and dynamic output characteristics are simulated. Moreover, a controller is designed and the corresponding experimental system is set up to verify the theoretical analysis and simulation of the HPEA. The experimental results agree well with the simulation. Furthermore, the HPEA is used in indentation experiments of a soft material, polydimethylsiloxane. The results demonstrate that the HPEA has a good performance in soft material indentation test.