Company - PI (Physik Instrumente) L.P.
PI Ceramic: Piezo Transducer, Actuator & Motor Specialist Turns 30
Starting Small in Size but Huge in Experience and Enthusiasm
When PI Ceramic (PIC) was founded in 1992 by PI’s President, Dr. Karl Spanner, and Albrecht Otto, the subsequent first managing director of PI Ceramic, the company started with a handful of employees and a few machines in rented facilities. Despite the humble beginnings, the first employees were all experts in the field of piezoceramic and dielectric materials with decades of research, design, and production experience. The area in Thuringia, Germany, where PIC was founded, had an even longer history of global-leading developments of technical ceramics and specialized ceramics for electronic applications.
Continuous Growth
Only two years after inception, the team moved to a brand-new building on their own premises. Due to the continuous demand for the high-quality piezoelectric actuators, transducers, and motors designed and manufactured at PIC, the company kept growing and the facilities had to be extended three times already since its founding. The last expansion, in 2020, added more than 80,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space.
Multilayer Actuators that Survive 100 Billion Cycles Without Failures – Good Enough for NASA
In the early 2000’s, PIC developed a new type of multilayer piezo actuator, the patented, ceramic encapsulated PICMA® actuators. These actuators were designed to provide significantly longer service life than conventional piezoelectric actuators, using several novel ideas. In a long-term test for the Mars Mission, NASA tested several different actuators to find the toughest ones. They selected the PI Ceramic-made PICMA® actuators for the Mars Rover, after they had passed 100 Billion Cycles of life tests without failure and degradation. These ultra-reliable actuators are also used in the piezo nanopositioning stages made by the PI Group.
Global Leading Products, Global Leading Customers
PI Ceramic’s piezo products are highly engineered and deliver advantages in many areas, including cleanliness, performance, and consistency, providing an edge for global leading customers that develop cutting edge applications. Markets for PIC piezo transducers include medical technology, semiconductor industry, industrial ultrasound sensor technology, and digital printing and dispensing technologies.
With Lead Free Materials into the Future
In years to come, PI Ceramic's competency in acoustic designs and the product portfolio for ultrasound transducers will continue to expand. PI Ceramic’s material specialists have already started work on lead free piezoceramic and composite traducers for new markets. More details and milestones in PI Ceramic’s 30 year history.
