Static Fatigue of Three-Point Bending Piezoelectric Ceramics with a Single-Edge Crack Under AC Electric Fields

This article investigates experimentally and analytically the static fatigue behavior of cracked piezoelectric ceramics under ac electric fields. Static fatigue tests were carried out in three-point bending with the single-edge precracked-beam specimens. The crack was created normal to the poling direction. Time-to-failure under different mechanical loads and ac electric fields were obtained from the experiment. A phenomenological model of domain wall motion was also used in finite element computation, and the energy release rate for the permeable crack model was calculated. The effect of ac electric fields on the energy release rate versus lifetime curve was then examined.