Strain incompatibility and residual strains in ferroelectric single crystals

Large field-induced-strain at high temperature in ternary ferroelectric crystals

The new generation of ternary Pb(In_1/2Nb_1/2)O₃-Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-PbTiO₃ ferroelectric single crystals have potential applications in high power devices due to their surperior operational stability relative to the binary system. In this work, a reversible, large electric field induced strain of over 0.9% at room temperature, and in particular over 0.6% above 380 K was obtained. The polarization rotation path and the phase transition sequence of different compositions in these ternary systems have been determined with increasing electric field applied along [001] direction based on x-ray diffraction data. Thereafter, composition dependence of field-temperature phase diagrams were constructed, which provide compositional and thermal prospectus for the electromechanical properties. It was found the structural origin of the large stain, especially at higher temperature is the lattice parameters modulated by dual independent variables in composition of these ternary solid solution crystals.

Both high reliability and giant electrocaloric strength in BaTiO₃ ceramics

BaTiO₃ has a giant electrocaloric strength, |ΔT|/|ΔE|, because of a large latent heat and a sharp phase transition. The electrocaloric strength of a new single crystal, as giant as 0.48 K·cm/kV, is twice larger than the previous best result, but it remarkably decreased to 0.18 K·cm/kV after several times of thermal cycles accompanied by alternating electric fields, because the field-induced phase transition and domain switching resulted in numerous defects such as microcracks. The ceramics prepared from nano-sized powders showed a high electrocaloric strength of 0.14 K·cm/kV, comparable to the single crystals experienced electrocaloric cycles, because of its unique microstructure after proper sintering process. Moreover, its properties did not change under the combined effects of thermal cycles and alternating electric fields, i.e. it has both large electrocaloric effect and good reliability, which are desirable for practical applications.