Abstract: A piezoelectric ceramic body in the form of a prism, which has a plurality of insulating layers arranged over one another and made of a piezoceramic material, the insulating layers being at least regionally separated from one another by a conducting layer made of an electrode material. The top view of the insulating layers at least approximates the shape of an n-gon, especially a regular n-gon, n being greater than four and especially being six, eight, or ten. Furthermore, the conducting layers cover each of the insulating layers so extensively that two adjacent insulating layers are only in direct contact with one another in the region of narrow dead zones regionally located at the outer edge of the insulating layers.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing multilayer actuators is described, in which films (1), known as green films, having regions applied thereon made of metal plating to implement electrodes, are processed into compressed multilayer composite elements before a sintering step. Film elements (4), whose area defines the cross-sectional area of a finished actuator, are individually separated from the green film (1) having metal plating and stacked into a film stack to prepare for the manufacture of a multilayer composite element. Furthermore, a device having separating means (31, 32, 33, 35) for performing the method is described, in which the separating means is designed for the purpose of individually separating film elements (4), whose area defines the cross-sectional area of a finished actuator, from the green film (1) and stacking the separated film elements (4) directly afterward.