Performance enhancement of soft‐PZT5 piezoelectric ceramics using poling technique

Abstract Pb(Zr 1− x Ti x )O 3 (PZT) ceramics are the most widely used piezoelectric ceramics due to their excellent performance. It has been reported that the direct current poling (DCP) apply on alternating current poling (ACP) relaxor‐PbTiO 3 ferroelectric crystals can further improve the piezoelectric properties. Herein, we report the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of soft‐PZT5 ceramics under DCP, ACP, and ACP + DCP methods. The piezoelectric coefficient d 33 of the soft‐PZT5 ceramics was 560 pC/N using ACP+DCP at room temperature (RT), which is 4% higher than the ACP‐treated sample (540 pC/N) and 24% higher than the DCP‐treated sample (450 pC/N). The ideal poling temperatures of DCP and ACP were found to be 120°C and 60°C, showing optimal d 33 values of 540 pC/N and 565 pC/N, respectively. The ACP and ACP+DCP samples show the same aging trend. After 30 days of aging, the d 33 values of the DCP, ACP, and ACP+DCP soft‐PZT5 ceramics were 415 pC/N, 500 pC/N, and 510 pC/N, respectively, showing decreases of 12%, 8%, and 9%, respectively. This work indicates that the ACP+DCP method is an effective method to improve the piezoelectric properties of soft‐PZT5 ceramics.