Investigation of large signal properties of quasi-static lead zirconate titanate actuators at elevated temperature

Abstract

Quasi-static multilayer piezoelectric actuators are finding more and more applications, for example, in the field of aerospace; however, their properties are still not fully characterised, in particular at a high temperature. The present study targets the full characterisation of both soft-doped and hard-doped lead zirconate titanate (PZT) up to 200°C. A simple set of tests and test results are presented, focusing particularly on dielectric losses and creep effect. Dielectric losses were found to decrease with the increasing field for soft-doped PZT, while they tend to increase for hard-doped PZT. The interpretation is that soft-doped PZT has less hysteresis at high field. The creep behaviour is also significantly different. While soft-doped PZT follows a logarithmic model with low and stable creep rates, hard-doped PZT exhibits non-logarithmic creep with increasing or decreasing rates depending on the temperature. This behaviour is attributed to the generation of additional poling in the material.