Effect of electrical and mechanical poling history on domain orientation and piezoelectric properties of soft and hard PZT ceramics

The superior piezoelectric properties of all polycrystalline ferroelectrics are based on the extent of non-180 degrees domain wall motion under electrical and mechanical poling loads. To distinguish between 180 degrees and non-180 degrees domain wall motion in a soft-doped and a hard-doped lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic, domain texture measurements were performed using x-ray and neutron diffraction after different loading procedures. Comparing the results to measurements of the remanent strain and piezoelectric coefficient allowed the differentiation between different microstructural contributions to the macroscopic parameters. Both types of ceramic showed similar behavior under electric field, but the hard-doped material was more susceptible to mechanical load. A considerable fraction of the piezoelectric coefficient originated from poling by the preferred orientation of 180 degrees domains.