Uniaxial stress dependence of ferroelectric properties of xPMN-(1–x)PZT ceramic systems

Abstract

Effects of uniaxial compressive pre-stress on the ferroelectric properties of ceramics in the PMN-PZT system are investigated. The ceramics with a formula xPb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-(1-x)Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 or xPMN-(1-x)PZT when x=0.0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, and 1.0 are prepared by a conventional mixed-oxide method. The ferroelectric properties under the uniaxial compressive pre-stress of the PMN-PZT ceramics are observed at the stress levels up to 13 MPa using a compressometer in conjunction with a modified Sawyer–Tower circuit. It is found that with increasing compressive pre-stress levels the area of the ferroelectric hysteresis (P–E) loops, the saturation polarization (Psat), the remanent polarization (Pr), and the coercive field (Ec) decrease. These results are interpreted through the non-180° ferroelastic domain-switching processes. Finally, the calculated differential permittivity for all the xPMN-(1-x)PZT ceramics, except for 0.5 PMN-0.5 PZT, decreases with increasing applied stress.