Self-generated electric field suppressing the ferroelectric to antiferroelectric phase transition in ferroelectric ceramics under shock wave compression

Kinetics of the ferroelectric (FE) to antiferroelectric (AFE) phase transformation under shock wave compression is critical to design the shock-activated power supply and can be characterized in terms of both a transition rate and a limiting degree of transition. By measuring the depoling currents under the short-circuit and high-impedance conditions, we investigated the influence of self-generated electric field on the phase transition kinetics of tin-modified lead zirconate titanate ceramics (Pb0.99Nb0.02[(Zr0.90Sn0.10)(0.96)Ti-0.04](0.98)O-3) in the pressure range from 0.61 to 4.50 GPa. Experimental results indicate that the self-generated electric field does not appear to have a significant effect on the depoling currents at high shock pressures, but has a strong effect at low pressures. At 0.61 and 1.03 GPa, transition rate and degree diminish with increasing the electric field, illustrating that the self-generated electric field suppresses the FE-to-AFE phase transition. These observations are found to be generally consistent with many ferroelectric materials and results under hydrostatic compression. Fundamental issues are discussed from the perspective of the soft mode theory. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3678005]