Electrical Behavior of PSZT Ferroelectric Ceramic under Shock Wave Compression

Electric power of hundreds of kilowatts can be produced in a few microseconds by sudden release of bound charge on the surface of ferroelectric ceramic through shock wave compression. In order to understand the depolarization process, knowledge of the discharge behavior of ferroelectric ceramic under shock wave compression is essential. Gas-gun facility has been used to investigate the shock-induced depolarization kinetics of tin-modified lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric ceramic. Experiments were conducted in the normal mode in which the shock propagation vector was perpendicular to the remanent polarization. Two kinds of specimens with the ferroelectric-toantiferroelectric transformation hydraulic pressure respectively at 80 MPa and 180 MPa were tested. The output currents as a function of load resistance were measured. A computation model was developed to describe the electrical behavior of PSZT ceramic under shock wave compression, which adequately explained the observed experimental results.