Composition Dependent Fatigue in Antiferroelectric PZST Ceramics Induced by Bipolar Electric Cycling

Bipolar electric fatigue in antiferroelectrics of the lead zirconate titanate stannate ceramics family was investigated. Variations in strain hysteresis loops and damages in microstructure of the materials due to the electric cycling were analyzed. The materials showed symmetric or asymmetric suppression of strain hysteresis loop, normal or diffuse AFE-FE phase transition and intact or damaged microstructure after 5×10-7 cycles, indicating a strong composition dependent fatigue effect and the corresponding mechanism. In general, the antiferroelectric materials exhibited much higher fatigue resistance than ferroelectric ceramics reported previously.