Florian H. Schader

Influence of uniaxial stress on the ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase change in barium titanate

The dielectric behavior near the ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transition of 〈001〉C-oriented single crystal and polycrystalline barium titanate (BaTiO3) was investigated as a function of uniaxial compressive stress in the temperature range from 25 to 200 °C. An increase in the Curie point (TC) and decrease in the Curie-Weiss temperature (θ) were observed with increasing stress for both single crystal and polycrystalline samples, resulting in an increase in the first order nature of the phase transition as measured by the temperature difference (TC – θ). With increasing applied stress levels, the permittivity versus temperature curves of polycrystalline samples were found to broaden and flatten near the Curie point, which was not observed for the single crystals. The experimental results were analyzed using a classical 2-4-6 Landau polynomial. The observed increase in the first order nature of the ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transition with uniaxial stress was explained by a linear dependence...

Chemical and structural effects on the high-temperature mechanical behavior of (1−x)(Na1/2Bi1/2)TiO3-xBaTiO3 ceramics

Bismuth sodium titanate–barium titanate [(1−x)(Na1/2Bi1/2)TiO3-xBaTiO3, NBT-100xBT] is one of the most well studied lead-free piezoelectric materials due in large part to the high field-induced strain attainable in compositions near the morphotropic phase boundary (x = 0.06). The BaTiO3-rich side of the phase diagram, however, has not yet been as comprehensively studied, although it might be important for piezoelectric and positive temperature coefficient ceramic applications. In this work, we present a thorough study of BaTiO3-rich NBT-100xBT by ferroelastic measurements, dielectric permittivity, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. We show that the high-temperature mechanical behavior, i.e., above the Curie temperature, TC, is influenced by local disorder, which appears also in pure BT. On the other hand, in NBT-100xBT (x < 1.0), lattice distortion, i.e., tetragonality, increases, and this impacts both the mechanical and dielectric properties. This increase in lattice distortion upon chemical substitution is counterintuitive by merely reasoning on the ionic size, and is due to the change in the A-O bond character induced by the Bi3+ electron lone pair, as indicated by Raman spectroscopy.

Mechanical stability of piezoelectric properties in ferroelectric perovskites

The influence of uniaxial compressive stress on the small signal direct piezoelectric coefficient of hard and soft Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 at the morphotropic phase boundary was investigated as a function of temperature from 25 °C to 450 °C. The stress- and temperature-dependent piezoelectric data indicate that stress is capable of either directly or indirectly modifying the orientation of polar defects in the crystal lattice and reduce the internal bias field. At higher temperatures, the mobility of polar defects was found to increase, corresponding to a two-step decrease in the direct piezoelectric coefficient and a decrease in the frequency dispersion. Quenching experiments were used to elucidate the role of the internal bias field on the stress-dependent piezoelectric response.

Enhancing the operational range of piezoelectric actuators by uniaxial compressive preloading

The influence of the uniaxial preload on the off-resonance actuation performance of piezoelectric ceramics was investigated for compressive preload values up to −80 MPa. The study was performed on soft-type lead zirconate titanate (PZT), being the most widely used piezoelectric material. The samples were analysed using the proportional loading method, which enables the simultaneous application of electrical and mechanical loads, thereby mimicking the real operation conditions over the full stress–strain range. An increase of the blocking stress and the longitudinal piezoelectric stress coefficient was observed for all the applied preload values. The optimum properties, a blocking stress of −56 MPa and a free strain of 0.23%, were obtained at a preload value of −40 MPa and electric field of 2 kV mm − 1. This represents an increase of 16% and 20%, respectively, as compared to the values obtained at the smallest preload. In addition, the maximum work output was increased by about 28%. Finally, the results obtained at the lowest preload of −4 MPa using the proportional loading method were compared to the operational ranges determined by other methods. The comparison revealed large discrepancies between the methods, originating from the different order of the application of electrical and mechanical fields and the inherent nonlinearity of ferroelectric materials. This discrepancy results in decreased actuator performance due to impedance mismatching, demonstrating the need for accurate determination of the actuators operational range.

Phase transitions in BaTiO3 under uniaxial compressive stress: Experiments and phenomenological analysis

The relative permittivity of polycrystalline BaTiO3 was measured from –150 °C to 250 °C at compressive bias stresses up to −500 MPa. Mechanical loading shifted the rhombohedral-orthorhombic, orthorhombic-tetragonal, and tetragonal-cubic phase transition temperatures and produced a pronounced broadening of the dielectric softening in the vicinity of all three transitions. The inter-ferroelectric rhombohedral-orthorhombic and orthorhombic-tetragonal phase transitions were found to be less stress sensitive than the ferroelectric-paraelectric transition occurring between tetragonal and cubic phases at the Curie point. The application of compressive stress resulted in a strong suppression of the relative permittivity, such that at the highest applied stress of −500 MPa, the permittivity in the single phase regions away from the phase transitions was found to display only a weak dependence on temperature between −100 °C and 125 °C. The experimental observations closely followed the predictions of a 2-4-6 Landau...