Effects of superimposed electric field and porosity on the hydrostatic pressure-induced rhombohedral to orthorhombic martensitic phase transformation in PZT 95/5 ceramics

The hydrostatic pressure-induced martensitic transformation from the ferroelectric rhombohedral to antiferroelectric orthorhombic phase in PZT 95/5 ceramics has been studied using neutron diffraction. The transition to the orthorhombic phase initiates at a pressure of 260 MPa and is almost complete at 290 MPa. This stress range is much narrower than that observed in uniaxial loading, which starts at 200 MPa and is incomplete even at 400 MPa. The narrower stress range observed under hydrostatic loading is attributed to a lack of internal stress developed during the transformation. By contrast, the work required to start the transformation is approximately the same under both types of loading. The transformation progresses more gradually with increasing pressure when a static electric field is applied to a specimen in a pre-poled state. Tests carried out on porous specimens, having a relative density of approximately 90%, demonstrated that the transformation occurred over a narrow pressure range but with a lower transformation pressure of approximately 220 MPa. (C) 2010 AWE and Crown Copyright. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.