Patent ID: 7309397

Claim:
A process for manufacturing piezoelectric multilayer actuators comprising the steps of: stacking a plurality of green films one above the other to form a block, wherein each of said green films comprises an inner electrode and a piezoelectric material, such that the inner electrodes are led out alternately at opposing faces of the actuator; laminating said block under pressure and with the application of heat to form a laminated block; separating a plurality of actuators from said laminated block to form a plurality of separated actuators; shaping the plurality of separated actuators; sintering the plurality of separated actuators to form a sinter skin which is an insulating layer on said separated actuators; and abrading said sinter skin at points where the internal electrodes are to be connected to an external electrode to interconnect the inner electrodes and to form the piezoelectric multilayer actuators, wherein prior to lamination, holes of the required size, shape and number are punched in the green films and the green films provided with the internal electrodes are then stacked one on top of the other in the required number and arrangement, so that boreholes or pocket holes are produced in a desired arrangement and depth, and wherein a thread is machine-cut in the boreholes or in the pocket holes, respectively.