Ferroelectric Characterization of Single PZT Fibers

Abstract

In a previous work, the authors have presented a comprehensive procedure for the direct characterization of single piezoelectric ceramic fibers in terms of butterfly and polarization loops and blocking force. The ability to investigate single fibers is relevant for optimizing their manufacturing processes, for quality control purposes, and for modeling the response of components and structures. In this study the novel testing procedure is used to characterize commercially available fibers distributed by Advanced Cerametrics Inc., CeraNova Corp., and Smart Material Corp., respectively, and to compare their performance with fibers developed at Empa. Their porosity, grain size and phase composition were investigated to correlate the ferroelectric properties with the microstructure. Fibers supplied by Smart Material Corp. exhibited the best ferroelectric performance, in particular the highest saturation and remnant polarization, the lowest coercive field and the highest P—E loop squareness. The said properties result from a low porosity, a sufficiently large grain size and a phase composition near the morphotropic phase boundary. After removing a surface layer dominated by a rhombohedral phase, Empa fibers developed maximum average free-strains 15% larger than any commercially available fiber. Better control of the sintering atmosphere thus promises to be the key to very high performance fibers.

Processing and Properties of Co‐Extruded Lead Zirconate Titanate Fibers

“…31 In addition, due to the small differences between the tetragonal (T) and rhombohedral (R) cell parameters, many of the diffraction lines in the coexistence region overlap to some degree. For example, Heiber et al 33 report that similar-diameter sintered PZT fibers, with a difference in porosity even higher than that verified in the present work, resulted in a 10% difference in S max . Therefore, for compositions close to the desired morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), where both the T and R phases coexist, three distinct lines are produced: (002) T , (200) R , and (200) T .…”

Processing, microstructure and electromechanical properties of Pb(Zr, Ti)O<inf>3</inf> fibers obtained by thermoplastic co-extrusion

“…A PZT fiber with low porosity, large grain size and a phase composition close to the nearly temperature-independent morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), exhibits superior electromechanical performance. However, the slightly higher porosity observed for the co-extruded fibers does not explain their inferior electromechanical performance (40 % drop in maximum strain when compared to the extruded fibers) [13].…”

Processing Conditions and Aging Effect on the Morphology of PZT Electrospun Nanofibers, and Dielectric Properties of the Resulting 3–3 PZT/Polymer Composite

“…It is not possible to clearly identify from this pattern whether the PZT is crystallized with a tetragonal or a rhombohedral perovskite phase as a result of the lower annealing temperature of 700°C. However, when the PZT powders prepared from the same sol–gel solution were pressed into pellets and sintered at 1260°C, a clear tetragonal peak splitting was observed at the (100)/(001) and (200)/(002) peaks 8 …”

“…There are a few methods to obtain PZT in fiber form. Sol–gel, viscous suspension spinning process (VSSP), and extrusion, for instance, are applied to produce PZT fibers, typically in the micrometer scale 6–8 . The electrospinning technique has recently gotten attention because fibers at the micro‐ and even nanoscale can be produced by this method.…”