Electric breakdown of longitudinally shocked Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 ceramics

Electric breakdown of longitudinally-shock-compressed Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3 (PZT 52/48) ferroelectric ceramics was experimentally investigated. It was found that a dependence of breakdown field strength, E-g, of shocked ferroelectrics on the thickness of the element, d, ranging from 0.65 to 6.5 mm is described by the E-g (d) = gamma . d(-w) law that describes the breakdown of dielectrics at ambient conditions. It follows from the experimental results that the tunnel effect is a dominant mechanism of injection of prime electrons in the shocked ferroelectric elements. It was demonstrated that electric breakdown causes significant energy losses in miniature autonomous generators based on shock depolarization of poled ferroelectric elements. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3609074]