Stress relaxation in ferroelectric materials

Stress relaxation takes place in BaTiO₃ type ferroelectric materials due to the motion of non 180° domain boundaries, which are the twin boundaries. The nature of stress relaxation taking place due to plastic deformation in crystalline solids and that due to twin boundaries in ferro electric materials is discussed. The usefulness of the stress relaxation data for the study of domain wall motions in this type of ferroelectrics is pointed out.