PIEZOELECTRIC/ELECTROSTRICTIVE ELEMENT

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the reliability of a piezoelectric/electrostrictive element and prolong the useful period of the element by making the deterioration of displacement suppressible even when the element is driven for a long time under an environment higher in temperature than a room temperature. SOLUTION: The piezoelectric/electrostrictive element 10 is provided with a piezoelectric/electrostrictive layer 24 and at least a pair of electrodes 26a and 26b formed on the layer 24. The layer 24 is constituted of a material composed of a PZT (lead zirconate titanate) containing Mn in an amount of 0.1-0.5 wt.% in terms MnO2 or a Pb(Mg1/3 Nb2/3 )O3 -PbZrO3 -PbTiO3 -based perovskite type piezoelectric/electrostrictive material the Pb of which is partially replaced with Sr and which contains Mn in an amount of 0.1-0.5 wt.% in terms of MnO2 .