Conducting cracks in a piezoelectric ceramic of limited electrical polarization (Q1975225)

Using a strip-saturation model of the Dugdale type, the authors present an analysis of conducting cracks in a poled ferroelectric of limited electrical polarization. A boundary value problem is formulated in the case of plane deformation, where the polarization saturation condition is expressed in terms of normal electric displacements along the saturated strip. The electrical loading is taken to be parallel to the polling axis, and no remote shear stresses are assumed to exist. The authors investigate the conducting cracks perpendicular or parallel to the polling axis, and show that the electric polarization saturation is essential for a physically realistic description of crack tip behavior in ferroelectric materials.