Thermal effects on mechanical grinding-induced surface texture in tetragonal piezoelectrics

The effect of temperature on grinding-induced texture in tetragonal lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and lead titanate (PT) has been investigated using in situ x-ray diffraction (XRD) with an area detector. In contrast with previous results on electrical poling, mechanically-ground PT and soft PZT materials retain strong ferroelastic textures during thermal cycling, even after excursions to temperatures slightly above the Curie temperature. The relationship between the residual stresses in the surface region, caused by grinding, and those resulting from domain wall motion is elucidated by in situ texture measurements obtained during thermal cycling.