Ferroelectric and ferroelastic piezoceramics - modeling of electromechanical hysteresis phenomena

This paper deals with the constitutive modeling of ferroelectric and ferroelastic piezoceramics which are of gaining importance for modern sensing and actuation applications. First, the basic properties of these materials will be discussed in terms of their microstructure. Then, the recent literature on constitutive modeling is looked at, considering both microscopic and phenomenological approaches. Next. a simplifying constitutive model is presented describing the main large signal hysteresis phenomena of piezoceramics. The model was developed for purposes of structural mechanics analyses by means of the finite element method and its benefits to the understanding of complex residual stress and poling states in piezoceramic devices are demonstrated. Finally, a thermodynamically based and microscopically motivated constitutive model for piezoceramics will be sketched.