A statistical model for predicting effective electroelastic properties of polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramics with aligned defects

This work is focused on the analysis of the e€ects of domain switching and defects on the e€ective electroelastic properties of polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramics. On the basis of experimental results and the classical nucleation theory, a statistical micromechanics model is developed in order to describe the microstructural evolution of polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramics. Further, the methods of Eshelbyʹs equivalent inclusion and Mori±Tanakaʹs mean ®eld theory are used to predict the e€ective electroelastic properties of polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramics with aligned defects, taking the e€ects of the shapes of individual crystal and defect into consideration. Some numerical results for BaTiO3 polycrystalline ceramics with aligned defects are carried out in order to illustrate the e€ects of the domain switching and defects on the e€ective electroelastic properties of polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramics. It has been shown that the simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results. 2