“…Piezoelectric ceramics are being widely used in electromechanical devices such as sensors, filters, ultrasonic generators and actuators because they offer excellent coupling properties between the mechanical and electrical fields of these devices, and the fracture of these piezoelectric materials has therefore been receiving a great deal of attention (Suo et al [1], Pan [2], Jin and Zhong, [3], Zhang et al [4], Lin et al [5], Fang et al [6], Abd-Alla and Al-Sheikh [7,8], Kuna [9], Zaman et al [10], Zhong et al [11], Akbarzadeh et al [12], Davì and Milazzo [13], Abd-Alla et al [14], Abd-Alla and Askar [15], Alibeigloo and Liew [16] and Rafiee et al [17]). It is well known that extension of the current fundamental fracture concepts and criteria from pure elasticity to piezoelectricity is not straightforward because of the coupling between the mechanical and electric fields.…”