On the local and average energy release in polarization switching phenomena

We derive an expression for the energy release during polarization switchin g in ferroelectric/ferroelastic materials with piezoelectric coupling. The energy release density is proportional to the local changes of the remanent and material properties due to crystal reorientation, and depends on the l ocal electromechanical fields before and after switching. Its equivalent in a representative volume element is applied to constitutive modeling of rep olarization and analysis of switching stability in a ferroelectric material . (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.