A high energy density relaxor antiferroelectric pulsed capacitor dielectric

Pulsed capacitors require high energy density and low loss, properties that can be realized through selection of composition. Ceramic (Pb_0.88La_0.08)(Zr_0.91Ti_0.09)O₃ was found to be an ideal candidate. La³⁺ doping and excess PbO were used to produce relaxor antiferroelectric behavior with slim and slanted hysteresis loops to reduce the dielectric hysteresis loss, to increase the dielectric strength, and to increase the discharge energy density. The discharge energy density of this composition was found to be 3.04 J/cm³ with applied electric field of 170 kV/cm, and the energy efficiency, defined as the ratio of the discharge energy density to the charging energy density, was 0.920. This high efficiency reduces the heat generated under cyclic loading and improves the reliability. The properties were observed to degrade some with temperature increase above 80 °C. Repeated electric field cycles up to 10 000 cycles were applied to the specimen with no observed performance degradation