Domain switching criteria for tetragonal phase ferroelectrics: A comparative study

The nonlinearity observed in piezoelectric behaviour of ferroelectrics like PZT needs to be modelled appropriately. Mainly the domain-switching phenomenon is the cause of this nonlinearity, which requires adoption of suitable switching criteria. In this paper, different domain switching criteria that describe the nonlinear behaviour are evaluated. The comparative study shows that there is considerable deviation from the experimental results. This calls for a better understanding of effects of domain parameters on the macroscopic behaviour of the ferroelectric material.