Effects of uniaxial stress on the piezoelectric, dielectric, and mechanical properties of lead zirconate titanate piezoceramics

Piezoelectric ceramics are often used under compressive stress. It is therefore important to know the properties of these materials as a function of applied stress. We have developed an experiment that allows us to find the piezoelectric charge coefficient d(33), elastic compliance S-33(E), and dielectric constant epsilon(33)(T) as a function of uniaxial stress in the poled direction. Both dynamic and static measurements can be carried out. The dynamic and static coefficients differ from each other because of the different proportions of reversible and irreversible domain changes that contribute to them and each coefficient can be important in specific applications. Dynamic results for stresses up to 160 MPa on a soft and a hard piezoelectric Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) ceramics are presented. The time dependence of the measurement has also been investigated. It was found that the experimental results were strongly dependent on the material type, history of the specimen, stress level, and the time scale of the measurement.