Effect of uniaxial compressive pre-stress on ferroelectric properties of soft PZT ceramics

The effect of uniaxial compressive pre-stress on the ferroelectric properties of commercial soft PZT ceramics is investigated. The ferroelectric properties under the uniaxial compressive pre-stress of the ceramics are observed at stress up to 24 MPa using a compressometer in conjunction with a modified Sawyer-Tower circuit. The results show that the ferroelectric characteristics, i.e. the area of the ferroelectric hysteresis (P-E) loops, the saturation polarization (P-sat), the remanent polarization (P,), and the loop squareness (R-sq) decrease with increasing compressive pre-stress, while the coercive field (E-c) is virtually unaffected by the applied stress. The stress-induced domain wall motion suppression and non-180 degrees ferroelectric domain switching processes are responsible for the changes observed. In addition, a significant decrease in these parameters after a full cycle of stress application has been observed and attributed to the stress-induced decrease in the switchable part of the spontaneous polarization at high stress. Furthermore, the permittivity calculated from the P-E loops is found to decrease with increasing applied pre-stress. This finding differs considerably from the results in the low-field experimental condition. Finally, this study clearly shows that the applied stress has a significant influence on the ferroelectric properties of soft PZT ceramics.