Enhanced and stable strain memory in Mn‐doped Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3–Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 ceramics realized by sesquipolar loading

The negative electric field, field cycling and frequency dependence of strain memory effect in poled and aged Mn-doped Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3–Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PMS–PZT) piezoceramics under sesquipolar loading were investigated. The strain memory effect of Mn-doped PMS–PZT is especially sensitive to the applied negative electric field. Maximum strain memory of 0.32% is achieved when the negative electric field is around negative coercive field of ~2.1 kV/mm, which can be ascribed to the partially depoled state with randomized domains. And this strain memory shows very good cycling stability, varying less than 5% up to 104 cycles, while almost 40% degradation is found under bipolar signal. In addition, due to the stabilized defect dipoles, the strain memory exhibits stable characteristic over a broad frequency range from 0.01 Hz to 20 Hz. The results may shed new insights into designing the novel strain memory actuators where stable strain state could be realized after the removal of electric field.