Effect of compressive stress on the ferroelectric hysteresis behavior in 0-3 PZT-cement composites

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-cement composites of 0-3 connectivity were produced using 50% PZT vol. content. PZT-cement based composites are developed for use as sensors for smart concrete structures, however, these sensors would in real life be under a certain stress. The effect of stress on the ferroelectric polarization-electric field (P-E) hysteresis of the composites is reported in this present work. It was found that there was a small but noticeable reduction in the remnant polarization (P-ir) by approximate to 0.3-0.7 mu C/cm(2) while the coercive field (E-ic) remained approximately the same when the stress was increased from 0 to 57 MPa. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.