Damage model for flexural strength variation of ferroelectric materials induced by electric field

Abstract

Ferroelectric material is being used widely in aerospace related applications, namely active control of large flexible space trusses, structure acoustics and helicopter rotary blades. Degradation of material properties affects the safety and reliability of these structural members. In particular, the flexural strength of ferroelectric materials tend to reduce when they are exposed to electric field. Experimentation cannot always explain the underlying reasons of these physical phenomena. To that end, a damage model is presented to study the switching process induced by applied electric field that might be the cause of damage. Furthermore, evolution of internal damage is considered using irreversible thermodynamics. Two relations are assumed to associate the flexural strength with the damage variable. Available test data for three-point-bend test are used to test the model for a PZT material exposed to electric field. The results reveal the validity of the present damage model while the critical strain energy density criterion led to a more reasonable correlation.