Symmetry of High-Piezoelectric Pb Based Complex Perovskites at the Morphotropic Phase Boundary: II. Theoretical Treatment

The structural characteristics of the perovskite-based ferroelectric Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)1-xTixO3 at the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) region (x ≈ 0.09) have been analyzed. The analysis is based on the symmetry adapted free energy functions under the assumption that the total polarization and the unit cell volume are conserved during the transformations between various morphotropic phases. Overall features of the relationships between the observed lattice constants at various conditions have been consistently explained. The origin of the anomalous physical properties at MPB is discussed