Subcritical Crack Growth in Lead Zirconate Titanate

Abstract

Subcritical crack growth in terms of velocity–stress intensity factor ( v – K ) curves in lead zirconate titanate (PZT) were experimentally characterized on poled and unpoled compact tension specimens. The poled specimens were tested under open‐ and short‐circuit electrical boundary conditions, which resulted in an increase in fracture toughness by 0.2 MPa·m 1/2 for the accessible velocity range ( v = 10 −9 to 10 −4 m/s) in the open‐circuit case. Subcritical crack growth of unpoled specimens was obtained under ambient (relative humidity = 35%) and dry (relative humidity ∼ 0.02%) conditions over a regime in stress intensity factor of 0.5 MPa·m 1/2 .