Micrograph 663 and full record
- Micrograph no
- 663
- Brief description
- Barium titanate ceramic
- Keywords
- barium, barium titanate, ceramic , ferroelectric domain, herringbone domain structure, twinning
- Categories
- Ceramic
- System
- BaTiO3
- Composition
- Not specified
- Standard codes
- Reaction
- Processing
- Applications
- Sample preparation
- Technique
- Reflected light microscopy
- Length bar
- No length bar
- Further information
- The ferroelectric domains are crystallographic twins which form on cooling the material through the paraelectric (cubic) to ferroelectric (tetragonal) phase transformation at 130ºC. Each grain is mechanically 'clamped' by its neighbours, which prevents it from developing the full tetragonal distortion and results in a state of residual, or 'internal', stress. Twinning reduces this residual stress and thereby reduces the free energy of the material.
The domain pattern was obtained by sectioning a bulk ceramic specimen with a diamond saw, followed by polishing and chemical etching to reveal the domain structure. In this case, the herringbone type domain structure represents the frozen in domain configuration of a grain within the ceramic.
Compare with micrograph ID 664. - Contributor
- Prof G Arlt
- Organisation
- Department of Materials Science, University of Manchester and UMIST
- Date
- 07/11/02
- Licence for re-use
- DoITPoMS standard terms of use
- Related micrographs
View image alone .. in a new window
Help is available on downloading images