Effect of Polarization Switch upon Stress in Thickness Vibration of a Ferroelectric Plate

The commonly encountered operational failure of ferroelectric actuators is the so‐called electric fatigue resulting from stress‐induced microcracks developed during polarization switch. This article presents a stress analysis for thickness vibration of a ferroelectric plate under cyclic electric loading programs with or without polarization switch. It concludes that polarization switch results in stresses of frequency close to the resonance, independent of the frequency of the applied electric field, and of a substantially large amplitude in comparison with stresses generated in the absence of polarization switch.