<title>Compression of PZT-5H piezoelectric ceramic at constant electric field: investigation of energy absorption mechanism</title>

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental and analytical investigation into the mechanical behavior of PZT-5H piezoelectric ceramic. The materia is subjected to cyclic uniaxial compressive stress at a constant electric field bias. The damping characteristics such as fraction of energy absorbed and elastic modulus are evaluated as a function of bias electric field. Increasing the positive electric field increases the specific damping and decreases the elastic modulus. The trend is reversed when the electric field becomes sufficiently high to inhibit the domain wall motion by the mechanical stresses. Measured specific damping values vary form 0.18 to 0.46 depending on the stress amplitude and bias electric field. The corresponding secant modulus varies from 79 to 24 Gpz. The optimum electric field values increase as the stress amplitude increases because the positive electric field and the compressive stress counteract each other in terms of domain wall motion. An analytical model shows that the material's response is proportional to the volume fraction of the domains available for switching and the domain wall pressure difference between positive electric field and compressive stress.