The ferroelastic phase transition and non- 180° domain switching in La-modified lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric ceramics

Bipolar electric fatigue in antiferroelectrics of the lead zirconate titanate stannate ceramics family was investigated. Variations in strain hysteresis loops and damages in microstructure of the materials due to the electric cycling were analyzed. The materials showed symmetric or asymmetric suppression of strain hysteresis loop, normal or diffuse AFE-FE phase transition and intact or damaged microstructure after 5×10-7 cycles, indicating a strong composition dependent fatigue effect and the corresponding mechanism. In general, the antiferroelectric materials exhibited much higher fatigue resistance than ferroelectric ceramics reported previously.

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Crack tip 90° domain switching in tetragonal lanthanum-modified lead zirconate titanate under an electric field

Journal of Materials Research ◽

10.1557/jmr.1999.0393 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 14 (7) ◽

pp. 2940-2944 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Fei Fang ◽

Wei Yang ◽

Ting Zhu

Keyword(s):

Electric Field ◽

Electric Fields ◽

Lead Zirconate Titanate ◽

Powder Processing ◽

Domain Switching ◽

Crack Tip ◽

Lead Zirconate ◽

Processing Technique ◽

Ferroelectric Ceramics ◽

Zirconate Titanate

Lanthanum-modified lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric ceramics (Pb0.96La0.04)(Zr0.40Ti0.60)0.99O3 were synthesized by the conventional powder processing technique. X-ray diffraction experiments revealed that the samples belong to the tetragonal phase with a = b = 0.4055 nm, c = 0.4109 nm, and c/a = 1.013. After being poled, the samples were indented with a 5-kg Vickers indenter, and lateral electric fields of 0.4 Ec, 0.5 Ec, and 0.6 Ec (Ec = 1100 V/mm) were applied, respectively. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy showed that 90° domain switching appeared near the tip of the indentation crack under a lateral electric field of 0.6 Ec. A mechanism of 90° domain switching near the crack tip under an electric field is discussed.

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Modeling of electric field induced texture in lead zirconate titanate ceramics

Journal of Materials Research ◽

10.1557/jmr.2001.0317 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 16 (8) ◽

pp. 2306-2313 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Shan Wan ◽

Keith Bowman

Keyword(s):

Electric Field ◽

Interaction Energy ◽

Lead Zirconate Titanate ◽

Domain Switching ◽

Texture Evolution ◽

Threshold Energy ◽

Lead Zirconate ◽

Ferroelectric Ceramics ◽

Domain Orientation ◽

Zirconate Titanate

Preferred domain orientation of a piezoelectric ceramic develops through domain switching under electric poling. In previous investigations the critical free energy required for domain switching has been assumed as a constant. This assumption leads to overestimation of the poling-induced texture and provides no explanation for the switching reversal in ferroelectric ceramics after the poling field is removed. In this paper, the contribution of intergranular stress to critical energy for 90° domain switching is investigated. A criterion including intrinsic threshold energy and an interaction energy, which is related to the intergranular stress and the intergranular depolarization field, is proposed. The texture evolution during poling process is simulated using a computational model starting from an initial random domain orientation distribution. The resulted domain orientation distributions under and after poling are predicted. The remanent domain switching after poling is the result of the balance between the interaction energy and intrinsic threshold energy. The final texture is much weaker than that under the electric field. Pole figures of poled Navy VI lead zirconate titanate measured by x-ray diffraction are consistent with the predicted textures.

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