Cross-poling Textures in a Lead Zirconate Titanate Piezoelectric Material

Tetragonal ferroelectric materials are polarized to induce the anisotropy necessary for the piezoelectric effect. This poling of the material is inherently an orientation process. Pole figure texture measurements of poling and cross-poling in a lead zirconate titanate Navy VI material show domain motion. The resulting axisymmetric and three-dimensional textures demonstrate the contribution of 90° domain motion to piezoelectricity. Cross-poling results in strong orientations with lower applied fields than in the initial poling steps.