Polarization Fatigue in Pb(In(0.5)Nb(0.5))O(3)-Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))O(3)-PbTiO(3) Single Crystals

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.