Two-Wave Shock Structures in the Ferroelectric Ceramics Barium Titanate and Lead Zirconate Titanate

Abstract

Two ferroelectric ceramics, Pb (Zr_0.52, Ti_0.48)O₃ with 1 wt % Nb₂O₅ and pure BaTiO₃, were studied under shock wave loading. Plane shock waves having pressures ranging from 2 to 175 kbar were produced by high‐explosive driving systems. Measurements were made with a streak camera and shock‐detecting ferroelectric wafers. Both ceramic materials showed evidence of a two‐wave structure over a wide range of shock pressures. Results indicate that these two‐wave structures are characteristic of the elastic properties of the materials and are not due to phase transitions from ferroelectric to paraelectric. Pressure‐volume Hugoniot curves are presented for both materials. Electrical charge released to an external load by Pb (Zr_0.52, Ti_0.48)O₃ with 1 wt % Nb₂O₅ was measured as a function of the pressure of a shock which was moving parallel to the axis of polarization. The primary mechanism in this reduction of polarization by shocks was found to be, not a phase transition or domain switching, but merely a reduction of the dipole moment by axial compression.