Frequency dependent electric fatigue in antiferroelectric PZST ceramics

Frequency dependent electric fatigue in ferroelectric and antiferroelectric ceramics under a.c. electric field was theoretically predicted, which has been experimentally confirmed for ferroelectric materials. In this study, the frequency dependence of electric fatigue was investigated for antiferroelectric PZST ceramics. Low frequency yields a faster fatigue with cycle number than high frequency. The pinning of domain walls is attributed to the main fatigue mechanism for the material. The frequency dependent electric fatigue results from the frequency dependence of the pinning processes, which is related to the frequency dependence of migration and redistribution of charged species in the material during cycling. With an increase in the extent of the fatigue, the polarization and strain hysteresis loops show a sequence of variations, i.e. deterioration of the switchable polarization and maximum strain, increase in FE-AFE transition field and enhancement in the degree of diffusion for the phase transitions.