EFFECTS OF SHOCK PRESSURE AND SELF-GENERATED ELECTRIC FIELD ON SHOCK-INDUCED FERROELECTRIC TO ANTIFERROELECTRIC PHASE TRANSITION IN LEAD ZIRCONATE STANNATE TITANATE FERROELECTRIC CERAMICS

Abstract

Kinetics of the ferroelectric (FE) to antiferroelectric (AFE) phase transformation under shock wave compression is critical to design the shock-activated power supply and can be characterized in terms of both a transition rate and a limiting degree of transition. By measuring the depoling currents under the short-circuit and high-impedance conditions, we investigated the influence of shock pressure and self-generated electric field on the phase transition kinetics of tin-modified lead zirconate titanate ceramics (Pb0.99Nb0.02[(Zr0.90Sn0.10)0.96Ti0.04]0.98O3) in the pressure range from 0.23 to 4.50 GPa. Experimental results indicate that the shock pressure promotes the FE-to-AFE phase transition. And the self-generated electric field does not appear to have a significant effect on the depoling currents at high shock pressures, but has a strong effect at low pressures. At 0.61 GPa and 1.03 GPa, transition rate and degree diminish with increasing the electric field, illustrating that the self-generated electric field suppresses the FE-to-AFE phase transition. These observations are found to be generally consistent with results under the hydrostatic compression. Fundamental issues are discussed from the perspective of the soft mode theory.