Revisiting the blocking force test on ferroelectric ceramics using high energy x-ray diffraction

Journal Article · Thu May 07 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4918928· OSTI ID:22402988

Hall, D. A.; Withers, P. J. ^[1]; Koruza, J.; Webber, K. G. ^[2]; King, A. ^[3]

---

1. School of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
2. Institute of Materials Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Alarich-Weiss-Straße 2, 64287 Darmstadt (Germany)
3. European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), 6 rue J. Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble (France)

The blocking force test is a standard test to characterise the properties of piezoelectric actuators. The aim of this study is to understand the various contributions to the macroscopic behaviour observed during this experiment that involves the intrinsic piezoelectric effect, ferroelectric domain switching, and internal stress development. For this purpose, a high energy diffraction experiment is performed in-situ during a blocking force test on a tetragonal lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic (Pb{sub 0.98}Ba{sub 0.01}(Zr{sub 0.51}Ti{sub 0.49}){sub 0.98}Nb{sub 0.02}O{sub 3}). It is shown that the usual macroscopic linear interpretation of the test can also be performed at the single crystal scale, allowing the identification of local apparent piezoelectric and elastic properties. It is also shown that despite this apparent linearity, the blocking force test involves significant non-linear behaviour mostly due to domain switching under electric field and stress. Although affecting a limited volume fraction of the material, domain switching is responsible for a large part of the macroscopic strain and explains the high level of inter- and intra-granular stresses observed during the course of the experiment. The study shows that if apparent piezoelectric and elastic properties can be identified for PZT single crystals from blocking stress curves, they may be very different from the actual properties of polycrystalline materials due to the multiplicity of the physical mechanisms involved. These apparent properties can be used for macroscopic modelling purposes but should be considered with caution if a local analysis is aimed at.

• OSTI ID: 22402988
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 17; Other Information: (c) 2015 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACTUATORS
BARIUM COMPOUNDS
CERAMICS
CHANNELING
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELASTICITY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
MONOCRYSTALS
NIOBIUM COMPOUNDS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PIEZOELECTRICITY
POLYCRYSTALS
PZT
RESIDUAL STRESSES
STRAINS
TETRAGONAL LATTICES
X-RAY DIFFRACTION