Optimal Friction Materials of Tiny Piezoelectric Ultrasonic Linear Motor

Abstract

In recent years, a novel tiny piezoelectric linear motor converting a radial mode vibration to a longitudinal mode vibration driven by the impact force has been developed for a camera optical module. The tiny piezoelectric motor is consisted of a shaft, mobile element, and piezoelectric transducer. In this work, the frictional coefficient and static friction force of the interface between the shaft and the mobile element have been investigated according to their respective materials. It was found that two combinations, namely Pyrex glass or stainless steel for the shaft and stainless steel (SUS) for the mobile element, exhibited good dynamic behaviors in the tiny ultrasonic linear motor, which was newly developed based on operating concepts based on Newton’s law.