Origin of the Giant Piezoelectric Properties in the [001] Domain Engineered Relaxor Single Crystals

Abstract

Relaxor single crystals PZN–9%PT have been cut and poled along [101] direction for which the spontaneous polarization Ps is approximately parallel to the poling field Ep. The piezoelectric matrix of the monoclinic single-domain (1M state) has been determined, in the approximation of an orthorhombic symmetry. The shear mode (15) along [101], gives the highest electromechanical coupling factor k15 (>80%) and the largest piezoelectric coefficient d15 (∼3200 pC/N). The properties of the disoriented 1M state have been calculated from a change of axes. The maximum of d33θϕ is obtained along a direction close to [001]. This is due to the very large value of d15 compared to d33 in the basic 1M state. On the other hand the transverse piezoelectric coefficient along [uv0] for the [001] disoriented Ps single domain presents a strong anisotropy. Finally, in the [001] domain engineered configuration, an important extrinsic contribution of the domain coexistence is evidenced by comparing calculated and measured coefficients.