Electrostrictive Ceramics and Their Applications

Since the discovery of ferroelectric electrostrictive ceramics such as Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PMN) in 1980 and following inclusion of other kind of materials (linear dielectrics, glass ceramics, defective oxides), electrostriction effect has been focus of much attention of research and industry with a succession of new field of development and commercial application. While piezoelectricity remains a “competitor,” electrostrictive ceramics set aside a market in low dimensional application such as micro-pumps, positioning and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). Also the heterogeneous variety of electrostrictors materials is a crucial point on the development of lead-free transducer. In this work, we describe the basics of the electrostriction effect, in both microscopic and macroscopic points of view. We highlight the most relevant applications and we analyze the different families of electrostrictive compounds.