Valve mechanism, especially fuel injection valve for an internal combustion engine

A fuel injection valve for an internal combustion engine, comprising a valve element, a piezoelectric actuator at least indirectly controlling the switched position of the valve element depending on the switched state of the piezoelectric actuator, and a tubular, largely cylindrical prestressing device prestressing the piezoelectric actuator, the prestressing device being manufactured out of a plate-shaped starting material and having at least two longitudinal edges that abut each other in a first region in such a way that the longitudinal rigidity of the prestressing device is altered in this first region, the prestressing device having at least a second region whose longitudinal rigidity differs from that of a neighboring region, the second region being situated in relation to the abutting longitudinal edges of the first region so as to reduce the bending moment that acts on the piezoelectric actuator and is generated by the altered longitudinal rigidity in the first region of the abutting longitudinal edges.