Published April 7, 2015 | Version v1
Journal article

Theoretical study on phase coexistence in ferroelectric solid solutions near the tricritical point

  • 1. Key Lab of Structures Dynamic Behavior and Control of the Ministry of Education, School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China)
  • 2. Condensed Matter Science and Technology Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China)
  • 3. Department of Mathematics and Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 (United States)

Description

Phase coexistence in ferroelectric solid solutions near the tricritical point has been theoretically analyzed by using the Landau-Devonshire theory. Results revealed that different phases having similar potential wells could coexist in a narrow composition range near the tricritical point in the classical Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 system. The potential barrier between potential wells increases with the decrease of temperature. Coexisting phases or different domains of the same phase can produce adaptive strains to maintain atomic coherency at the interfaces or domain walls. Such compatibility strains have influence on the energy potential as well as the stability of relative phases, leading to the appearance of energetically unfavorable monoclinic phases. Those competing and coexisting phases also construct an easy phase transition path with small energy barrier in between, so that very small stimuli can produce large response in compositions near the morphotropic phase boundary, especially near the tricritical point

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Applied Physics
Journal Volume
117
Journal Issue
13
Journal Page Range
p. 134101-134101.6
ISSN
0021-8979
CODEN
JAPIAU

Optional Information

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