Phase fragility and mechatronic reliability for Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 ferroelectric single crystals — A review

Abstract

Single crystals of (1-x) Pb ( Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3) O 3–x PbTiO 3( PMN –x PT ) near their morphotropic phase boundaries (MPBs) are under extensive investigations for their extraordinary high dielectric and piezoelectric behavior. Applications of those single crystals facilitated the breakthrough in ultrasonic transducer materials and devices. Ferroelectric materials are known to be fragile which often leads to various reliability failures in applications involving electric loadings. In a mechanical sense, the failure modes concern the fracture under an intensive electric field, and the fatigue crack propagation under an alternating electric field. In an electrical sense, the failure is exhibited by degenerated hysteresis loop by shrinking the remnant polarization and expanding the coercive field. All these modes degrade the performance for ferroelectric devices. As a departure from the tetragonal (T) ferroelectric materials, exemplified by BaTiO 3 and Pb ( ZrTi ) O 3, the domain structures of PMN–PT around the MPB are versatile and intricate, depending sensitively on the composition variation, orientation and previous loading history. In this review, the attention is mainly focused on three aspects. First, the phase fragility and multiphase coexistence are presented for both [100]- and [101]-oriented PMN–PT single crystals. Second, investigations on electric field-induced fatigue crack propagation are described, along with the orientation effect on the crack propagation behavior. Third, the inverse effects of the phase transition and fatigue crack growth on the polarization behavior, or the interaction between the mechanical and electrical degradations will be elucidated. The review aims for better understanding the underlying mechanism for the ultrahigh performance of the PMN–PT single crystals, to bridge the studies of ferroelectric materials from the mechanical and electrical senses, as well as to evaluate the reliability of PMN–PT single crystals under device applications.