PI Ceramic: 30 Years of Excellence in Piezo Transducer, Actuator, and Motor Design & Production

Sophisticated piezoceramic components and subsystems with new piezo transducer offerings for sensing and ultrasound applications.

PI Ceramic, a subsidiary of precision motion control specialist PI (Physik Instrumente), celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2022 and continues to provide world-class standard and miniaturized piezoceramic components such as piezo rings, piezo benders, micro piezo tubes, micro disks, and shear transducer plates. Piezo components are critical for markets such as 3D printing, digital printing, medical engineering, and industrial automation. Founded in 1992 as a subsidiary of PI (Physik Instrumente), PI Ceramic (PIC) was started with a handful of employees - all experts in the field of piezoceramic and dielectric materials - who brought with them decades of research, design, and production experience.


Continuous Growth, 3rd Expansion
Only two years after inception, the PI Ceramic team moved to a new building specifically designed for their needs. Due to the continuous global demand for the high-performance piezoceramic transducers, actuators, and motors designed and manufactured at PIC, the company kept growing and the facilities had to be extended several times since its founding. The most recent expansion in 2020 added more than 80,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space.

Compact Piezo Actuators that Survive 100 Billion Cycles Without Failures - Good Enough for NASA
In the early 2000's, PIC developed a new type of piezo material and process for multilayer piezo actuator production. Based on several novel ideas, PIC's patented, ceramic-encapsulated actuators can provide significantly longer service life than conventional polymer coated piezoelectric actuators. In a long-term test for the Mars Mission, NASA tested several actuator types to find the toughest ones with the highest performance. PI Ceramic's PICMA® actuators had passed 100 Billion Cycles of life tests without failure and degradation and got selected.

Lead-Free Piezoceramic Materials for Future Applications and Markets
PI Ceramic's competency in acoustic designs including piezo transducer spheres and hemisphere and the portfolio for ultrasonic applications will continue to expand. PI Ceramic's material specialists have already invested in intensive research and started to produce lead-free piezoceramic and composite transducers for new markets.

Featured Product

T.J. Davies' Retention Knobs

T.J. Davies' Retention Knobs

Our retention knobs are manufactured above international standards or to machine builder specifications. Retention knobs are manufactured utilizing AMS-6274/AISI-8620 alloy steel drawn in the United States. Threads are single-pointed on our lathes while manufacturing all other retention knob features to ensure high concentricity. Our process ensures that our threads are balanced (lead in/lead out at 180 degrees.) Each retention knob is carburized (hardened) to 58-62HRC, and case depth is .020-.030. Core hardness 40HRC. Each retention knob is coated utilizing a hot black oxide coating to military specifications. Our retention knobs are 100% covered in black oxide to prevent rust. All retention knob surfaces (not just mating surfaces) have a precision finish of 32 RMA micro or better: ISO grade 6N. Each retention knob is magnetic particle tested and tested at 2.5 times the pulling force of the drawbar. Certifications are maintained for each step in the manufacturing process for traceability.