Evolution of domain walls in ferroelectric solids

The evolution of domain walls in ferroelectrics is analyzed. The placement field and the polarization vector field accounting for the microstructure o f ferroelectric domains describe the body. Measures of interaction are asso ciated to the polarization field. They have electromechanical nature and ar e balanced by appropriate equations. The deduction of the evolution equatio ns for strongly anisotropic domain walls and corners (junctions among domai n walls) is the main result of this paper. The model is applied to typical cases and the explicit solutions obtained fit the available experimental re sults on Barium Titanate. An analogous agreement is found also at the junct ions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.