2T domain-engineered piezoelectric single crystals: Calculations and application to PZN-12%PT poled along [101]

This work is devoted to a study of the [101] domain-engineered PZN-12%PT single crystals. The full electromechanical tensor of PZN-12%PT in its tetragonal single domain state 1T is determined by the resonance method and used as input data. Observations of the domain structure of the [101]-poled 2T crystals by polarized light microscopy reveal a laminar structure consisting of thin layers stacked along the macroscopic polarization direction. We give analytical expressions for effective constants of this laminate multidomain pattern, taking into account the clamping effect resulting from domain coexistence. The calculated effective properties are found in good agreement with the experiments within experimental uncertainties. It is found that domain coexistence affects primarily the transverse dielectric constants epsilon(11) and epsilon(22). This effect is related to the emergence of internal shear stresses and depolarizing electric fields that are most significantly driven by the shear piezoelectric constant d(15) and dielectric anisotropy epsilon(T)(11)-epsilon(T)(33) of the single domain state. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2978327]