Ultrasonic pulse-echo technique for the characterization of elastic constants of single domain Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3–5.5%PbTiO3 single crystals with 3m symmetry

Abstract

The ultrasonic pulse-echo (UPE) technique is a classical method to characterize the elastic constants of solid materials. However, no detailed analysis exists in the literature regarding the application of this technique on the characterization of relaxor–PbTiO3 single crystals with 3m symmetry. This study systematically investigated the UPE technique for the characterization of elastic constants of [111]c poled Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3–5.5%PbTiO3 single domain single crystals with 3m symmetry. Longitudinal and transversal wave echoes in a rectangular parallelepiped sample were identified based on the theory of wave propagation in piezoelectric materials. Experimental results showed that $$c_{11}^{\text{E}}$$ and $$c_{33}^{\text{D}}$$ can be directly and precisely determined by UPE, but $$c_{44}^{\text{E}}$$ cannot be determined by UPE neither directly nor indirectly. The elastic constants $$c_{14}^{\text{D}}$$ , $$c_{44}^{\text{D}}$$ , and $$c_{66}^{\text{D}}$$ cannot be directly determined by UPE but they can be calculated from directly measured ci (i = 1, 2, 3, 4). Experimental results also showed that c4 cannot be precisely determined by UPE. Based on error analysis, the uncertainty of c4 will strongly influence the precision of measured $$c_{44}^{\text{D}}$$ and $$c_{66}^{\text{D}}$$ but only weakly influence the accuracy of $$c_{14}^{\text{D}}$$ .