Electrical Response of Shock-Wave-Compressed Ferroelectrics

Abstract

Short duration electrical pulses with peak powers approaching a megawatt can be obtained by shock-wave compression of poled ferroelectric ceramics. The polarity of the electrical responses indicates that the physical process involved is not the piezoelectric effect but rather the destruction of the remanent polarization by either a randomization of domains or by a polymorphic phase transformation to a nonferroelectric State. Power supplies based on phase transformations are practical in that their electrical responses are relatively insensitive to the magnitude of the shock as long as the characteristic threshold conditions for the transformation are exceeded.

Work supported by U. S. Energy Research and Development Administration under contract AT(29-1)789.