Switch-toughening of ferroelectrics subjected to electric fields (Q1961404)

The authors quantify the toughening mechanism of ferroelectrics by 90 degrees polarization switching. In doing so, attention is focused on the case of ``small scale switching'', when the specimen size is considerably larger than the switching zone size, and a uniform electric field is assumed. Within the proposed framework, a set of dimensionless material parameters emerges that allows to scale the extent of toughening. The authors present an analytical solution for the toughening of a mono-domain ferroelectric crystal. This solution is then used to make an estimation of the fracture resistance in ferroelectrics against steady-state crack growth. The presented model is shown to be adequate in predicting the fracture toughness of ferroelectrics when the direction of the electric field is unchanged.