Simulation of nonlinear dielectric properties of polyvinylidene fluoride based on the Preisach model

The nonlinear dielectric properties of a ferroelectric material were studied based on the concepts of the Preisach model. In this work, the ferroelectric polymer polyvinylidene fluoride was chosen as an example. The electric displacement D in the material when subjected to a sinusoidal electric field of a given frequency was calculated by use of the Preisach model. Both in-phase and out-of-phase components as well as higher harmonics emerged naturally from the model calculation. D-E loops at different field amplitudes were simulated and Fourier analyzed. The Fourier coefficients obtained were compared with the experimental data [T. Furukawa, K. Nakajima, T. Koizumi, and M. Date, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Part 1 26, 1039 (1987)]. Essentially, almost all the broad experimental features were reproduced by the simulations. This model is able to account for finer features than the theoretical model used in the original paper.