An in-situ Raman spectroscopic investigation of PLZT ceramic under a coupled mechanical-electrical load

novel in-situ Raman spectroscopic observation system was established to investigate the microscopic behaviors of lanthanum-doped lead zirconate titanate (PLZT) polycrystalline ceramic under a coupled mechanical-electrical load. The compressive stress ranging from 0 MPa to 548.8 MPa and the constant electric field of 2000 V/mm were simultaneously applied to the as-prepared rectangular PLZT specimen with a typical tetragonal structure and an empirical composition of Pb 0.86 La 0.10 Zr 0.57 Ti 0.43 O 2.86 . It was found that the 5-time averaged in-situ Raman spectra obtained within the same grain in the PLZT ceramic by varying the polarization direction from 0° to 180° were susceptible to the coupled mechanical-electrical load. The Raman intensity ( I ) and the polarization angle ( θ ) may be related by I = I m sin (2 θ + φ ) + k . Under the action of the same intensity of the incident light, the variations in the fitting parameters k, I m , and φ might be referred to the changes in the orientation distributions and material constants of Raman tensors. The polarization direction for the Raman scattering intensity reaching maximum ( θ max ) may be determined by 0.5em 2θ_max=π/2-φ . The apparent reduction in Raman intensity and slight enhancement in θ max were observed under a coupled mechanical-electrical load.