Modeling of electric field induced texture in lead zirconate titanate ceramics

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.