Cracking in ferroelectric ceramic actuators caused by domain switching

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Jeong, K.M.^{a; *} | Beom, H.G.^b

Affiliations: [a] Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Chonnam National University, 300 Yongbong-dong, Gwangju 500-757, South Korea | [b] Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-dong, Incheon 402-751, South Korea

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. E-mail: kmoonjeong@hanmail.net

Abstract: Cracking near the edge of an internal electrode embedded in ferroelectric ceramic actuators is analyzed. The boundary of the domain switching zone near the edge of the internal electrode in a ceramic multilayer actuator is determined based on the nonlinear electric theory. Under small-scale conditions, the stress intensity factor induced by ferroelectric domain switching is numerically obtained for dissimilar crack surface boundary conditions: the insulating crack and the conducting crack. It is found that the stress intensity factor for a crack emanating from an internal electrode depends strongly on the ratio of the coercive electric field to the yield electric field.

Keywords: Cracking, ferroelectric ceramics, domain switching, electrical nonlinearity

DOI: 10.3233/JAE-2006-884

Journal: International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics, vol. 24, no. 1-2, pp. 115-127, 2006