A study of mechanisms of domain switching in a ferroelectric material via loading rate effect

A method to characterize the strain–electric field butterfly behavior based on the underlying domain switching mechanism is first presented. The effect of loading rate on the different characteristics of the strain–electric field butterfly behavior is then studied. By comparing the changes in these characteristics under different loading rates, it is established that the loading rate dependence of the strain–electric field butterfly behavior is mainly due to two factors: (i) the dependence of the switching of individual domains on the magnitude and duration of the loading time; and (ii) the variation of the transition electric field with the loading rate. Finally, the stability of switched domains is investigated by unloading and reloading the electric field at several predetermined values in the loading cycle. Several interesting attributes of the domain switching behavior that may shed further light on understanding the underlying mechanism of domain switching is illustrated in the present study. The present study also demonstrates that the proposed method of characterizing the strain–electric butterfly behavior based on the underlying domain switching mechanism is very effective for studying ferroelectric behavior under different loading conditions.