Re-examination of the PKHS crack model in piezoelectric materials

In this paper, the PKHS crack model is re-examined in detail. Some novel features and better understandings are presented. It is found that the normal crack opening displacement jump (NCODJ) across the crack is always extremely small, whereas the electric potential drop (EPD) across the crack is very large for PZT-4 or PZT-5H under 20 MPa and a varying electric field from −0.5 MV/m to 0.5 MV/m. It is also found that the permittivities of the medium inside the crack gap influence the NCODJ and the EPD significantly. Of great significance is that the crack tip energy release rate (ERR) does not always show an even functional dependence on the applied electric field as previous researchers reported. Its variable tendencies (even or odd) depend on the mechanical loading levels, which are called as the load dependence feature here. In PZT-4, this load-dependence feature induced from the increasing mechanical loading may lead to a transformation of the crack tip ERR from an even functional dependence to an odd one when the applied electric loading varies within the range mentioned above, whereas in PZT-5H no such feature exists. This implies that different mechanical loading levels may yield different fracture behaviors when using the crack tip ERR as a fracture criterion. Moreover, the permittivities of medium inside the PKHS crack gap influence the variable tendencies of the ERR significantly. Thus, a useful addition to previous works is provided and a reasonable explanation for the fundamental discrepancy between previous theoretical predictions and experimental observations in piezoelectric fracture can be given. That is, previous experiments were performed for quite different piezoelectric materials, under quite different mechanical loading levels, and with quite different media inside crack gaps.