Measurement and Visualization of Dynamics of Piezoelectric Microcantilever

Methods for measuring the resonant frequencies and visualizing the motion of the Pb(Zr0.5Ti0.5)O3 microcantilever are investigated. Considering the two-segment structure of the microcantilever, a self-exiting self-sensing method is proposed to obtain the fundamental resonant frequency. An optical system consisting of light microscope, CCD camera and video card is established to visualize the first two vibration mode shapes. The theoretical, measured and visualized first resonance of one micocantilever is 17.28 kHz, 17 kHz and 17.8 kHz, respectively. A theoretical second resonance of 84.16 kHz is seen at 71.9 kHz. The proposed method is valid for measuring and visualizing low resonances of active micro structure.