Polarization fatigue in Pb(In0.5Nb0.5)O3―Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3―PbTiO3 single crystals

• Published in: Acta materialia Vol. 58; no. 10; pp. 3773 - 3780
• Main Authors: SHUJUN ZHANG, JUN LUO, FEI LI, MEYER, Richard J, HACKENBERGER, Wesley, SHROUT, Thomas R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier 01.06.2010
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Fatigue; Mechanical properties and methods of testing. Rheology. Fracture mechanics. Tribology; Metals. Metallurgy; Perovskite crystal; Perovskite; Ferroelectricity; Internal stress; Internal stresses; Mechanical properties; Piezoelectricity; Fatigue; Single crystal
• ISSN: 1359-6454; 1873-2453
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actamat.2010.03.018

Electric fatigue tests have been conducted on pure and manganese modified Pb(In 0.5 Nb 0.5 )O 3 -Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 -PbTiO 3 (PIN-PMN-PT) single crystals along different crystallographic directions. Polarization degradation was observed to suddenly occur above 50–100 bipolar cycles in oriented samples, while oriented samples exhibited almost fatigue free characteristics. The fatigue behavior was investigated as a function of orientation, magnitude of the electric field and manganese dopant. It was found that oriented PIN-PMN-PT crystals were fatigue free, due to its small domain size, being on the order of 1µm. The direction exhibited a strong electrical fatigue behavior due to mechanical degradation. Micro/macro cracks were developed in fatigued oriented single crystals. Fatigue and cracks were the results of strong anisotropic piezoelectric stress and non-180° domain switching, which completely locked the non-180° domains. Furthermore, manganese modified PIN-PMN-PT crystals were found to show improved fatigue behavior due to its enhanced coercive field.