Domain switching in ferroelectric single crystal/ceramics under electromechanical loading

Domain switching in PMN-PT single crystal and PZT-5 ceramics under electromechanical loading were studied in two different ways. For the single crystal, domain switching was in situ investigated with polarized light microscopy. A 90° domain-switching zone was observed near the crack tip and the size of the switching zone changed with the acuity of the crack tip. For PZT-5 ceramics, domain switching under orthogonal electromechanical loading ( E 3 and compressive stress σ 11) was studied by measuring the hysteresis loops, butterfly curves and reversed butterfly curves ( ɛ 11 versus E 3). Experimental results show that 90° domain switching is suppressed in the planes parallel to the compression direction. A domain-switching model dividing each 180° switching to two successive 90° switching was proposed to explain the experimental results.