Simulation of precipitate morphologies in ferroelectric materials

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Ralf Müller
• Subject Area: Mechanics
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 528293120

Ferroelectric materials are frequently used in sensor and actuator applications. Decisive for the use in these applications is the coupling between mechanical and electrical fields. This coupling is determined by the microstructure of the material, which is established by the domain structure of the polarisation. A new way to influence this domain structure is by precipitates. The project aims at understanding the causes of certain precipitate morphologies by using finite element methods. Therefore, strain and interface energy are considered in conjunction with elastic properties, transformation strains and external loads. The investigations apply a sharp interface model which is described with the help of NURBS to achieve a sufficient smoothness. The input data and simulation results are exchanged and discussed with cooperation partners from materials science.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants