Ferroelectric creep associated with domain switching emission in the cracked ferroelectrics

- Domain switching emission is observed in cracked ferroelectrics.
- Ferroelectric creep near the crack tip is numerically simulated and observed.
- Consistent features and conclusions are obtained by both simulation and experiment.

Investigations on the ferroelectric creep associated with domain switching emission near the tip of the mode I crack in ferroelectrics are conducted by birefringence experiment along with phase field simulation. Taking advantage of the birefringence technique, the evolution features of domain switching related to the spatial and temporal distribution of the remnant polarization are captured in the crack tip field. Moreover, phase field simulations are carried out to reveal the distribution of polarization and the evolution of domain switching in the cracked ferroelectrics. The domain switching emission is found to appear first in the crack tip zone and then spread to the surroundings in the ferroelectric specimen with time evolving. And the emission velocities of domain switching in the cracked ferroelectric samples are approximately calculated, which shows a clearly anisotropic feature. Results demonstrate a clear feature of ferroelectric creep occurs near the tip of crack where the total magnitude of polarization evolves with the time even under the applied constant electric loading. The key conclusion of the present paper is the intriguing feature of the ferroelectric creep associated with domain switching emission in the cracked ferroelectrics. The consistent features and conclusions can be obtained by both phase field simulation and birefringence experiment.

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