Large current out-put of PZT 95/5 ferroelectric ceramics under shock loading

Abstract

The poled PZT 95/5 ferroelectric ceramic is in ferroelectric (FE) phase, it can be transformed into the antiferroelectric (AFE) phase by shock compression, so the bound charge can be liberated into an external circuit to generate pulses of electrical current. Based on this FE/AFE transition theory, the electrical response of LRC load was discussed, especially for the small resistance (R) and small inductance (L) load in this paper. A set of PZT 95/5 ceramics in parallel connection was devised to generate large pulses of electrical current in two plane-wave tests. The maximum output current reaches above 5 kA, and the corresponding rise time of the front edge is under 500ns.