Characterizations of fatigue and crack growth of ferroelectrics under cyclic electric field

The behavior of fatigue and crack growth of PZT based ferroelectrics under electric field was characterized. It is found that the crack growth shows an anisotropic effect. Under cyclic electric field, crack in the direction perpendicular to the polarization direction grows very fast, whereas in the direction parallel to the polarization direction no clear crack propagation is observed. Low cyclic electric field can also result in crack growth. The results also show that high electric field leads to degradation of the ferroelectric property more quickly than low electric field. The mechanism of the phenomenon is discussed.