Evaluation of Fatigue of the Lead Zirconate Titanate Ceramics under Electro-mechanical Coupling Field

Modified small punch (MSP) tests are effective evaluation methods for mechanical properties by using small specimens. Fatigue properties of PZT ceramics under electro-mechanical coupling field and pure force field were evaluated with multi-fields coupling MSP tests. It is found that the fracture strength of the samples under electro- mechanical field would sharply decrease, compared with the samples under pure force field. Fatigue life would de- crease greatly and intergranular fracture would happen easily under electro-mechanical coupling field.