Shear strain actuators are not as popular as other actuators since they are difficult to manufacture. Cylindrical actuators operate in 31-mode with the electric field applied across the cylinder wall to obtain an elongation of the length of cylinder.
Cylindrical actuators can produce precise displacements.
The bimorph is a two layer structure operating in 31-mode to obtain large displacements but low generative force. Multilayer actuators that operate in 33-mode can produce higher strains than cylindrical actuators and generate greater forces than bimorphs. For example, a multilayer actuator with a 1 cm x 1 cm cross section can easily transmit 1000 N of force. TRS specializes in producing multilayer actuators. In a multilayer actuator, each layer acts as a separate actuator connected electrically in parallel with all of the other layers.