A polycrystal hysteresis model for ferroelectric ceramics

Most key elements of ferroelectric properties are defined through the hysteresis loops. For a ferroelectric ceramic, its loop is contributed collectively by its constituent grains, each having its own hysteresis loop when the ceramic polycrystal is under a cyclic electric field. In this paper, we propose a polycrystal hysteresis model so that the hysteresis loop of a ceramic can be calculated from the loops of its constituent grains. In this model a micromechanics-based thermodynamic approach is developed to determine the hysteresis behaviour of the constituent grains, and a self-consistent scheme is introduced to translate these behaviours to the polycrystal level. This theory differs from the classical phenomenological ones in that it is a micromechanics-based thermodynamic approach and it can provide the evolution of new domain concentration among the constituent grains. It also differs from some recent micromechanics studies in its secant form of self-consistent formulation and in its application of irreversible thermodynamics to derive the kinetic equation of domain growth. To put this two-level micromechanics theory in perspective, it is applied to a ceramic PLZT 8/65/35, to calculate its hysteresis loop between the electric displacement and the electric field (D versus E), and the butterfly-shaped longitudinal strain versus the electric field relation (ε versus E). The calculated results are found to be in good quantitative agreement with the test data. The corresponding evolution of new domain concentration c₁ and the individual hysteresis loops of several selected grains-along with those of the overall polycrystal-are also illustrated.