New ways to determine and describe ceramic dielectrics and piezoelectrics from diffraction and scattering

Jacob Jones

North Carolina State University

Jacob L. Jones is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and University Faculty Scholar at North Carolina State University (NC State), Director of the Analytical Instrumentation Facility, and Director and Principal Investigator of the Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network. Jones’ research interests involve developing structure-property-processing relationships in emerging functional materials, primarily through the use of advanced X-ray and neutron scattering tools. He has published over 200 papers and delivered over 100 invited lectures on these topics since 2004. Jones is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and has received numerous awards for his research and education activities, including an NSF CAREER award (2007), a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2009), the IEEE UFFC Ferroelectrics Young Investigator Award (2011), Edward C. Henry “Best Paper” awards in 2010 and 2012 from the Electronics Division of the American Ceramic Society, and several advising awards from the University of Florida and NC State. He currently serves as Vice President for Ferroelectrics in the IEEE UFFC Society. Jones is known for promoting international science and engineering initiatives. He has been Principal Investigator on three NSF awards to provide international research experiences to U.S. students at foreign research laboratories. Using these programs, Jones has enabled over 50 U.S. students to obtain international research experiences overseas and has hosted a multitude of foreign students at U.S. institutions. Jones received his BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from Purdue University. He then completed an international postdoctoral fellowship sponsored by the National Science Foundation jointly at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and Iowa State University.

Abstract

The importance of structure-property relationships in materials research cannot be overstated. At the crystallographic level, the structure relates directly to nearly all physical properties ranging from thermal expansion and elastic compliance to dielectric polarization, piezoelectricity, and pyroelectricity. There is great complexity in the ferroelectric crystal structures investigated today with examples including disordered atomic displacements, chemical disorder, octahedral tilting, and incommensurate modulations. A growing emphasis on in situ characterization, e.g. crystallographic study during application of electric fields or mechanical stress, further increases the challenges in determining and describing the structural features of interest.

In this talk, I will first describe the application of Pair Distribution Function (PDF) methods for characterizing local structures in dielectric, piezoelectric, and ferroelectric ceramics [1]. PDFs can be determined from X-ray or neutron total scattering measurements and provide information about structure that is invisible to Bragg diffraction. The local structures in several compounds and solid solutions will be described. I will also present in situ PDF for determining how insulating materials respond to an electric field.

Finally, an alternative statistical framework for describing crystallographic structures using Bayesian statistics will be introduced [2]. The structural parameters in the new model are represented using probability distributions, enabling the treatment of structures as probabilistic (as opposed to deterministic) with improved uncertainty quantification. We employ this framework in analysis of X-ray data in conjunction with a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm. This new way of describing crystallographic structures presents unique opportunities for uncertainty quantification in properties and is useful in the growing field of materials informatics.

References
[1] Hou, Jones et al., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2017.12.003
[2] Fancher, Jones et al., http://www.nature.com/articles/srep31625

Authors

Jacob Jones (North Carolina State University)

Topic Area

(Micro)structure-property relations

Session

PL-1 » Plenary Session 1 (11:30 - Monday, 9th July, Aula Louis Verhaegen)

Presentation Files

The presenter has not uploaded any presentation files.

Additional Information

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Email Support • Blog • Privacy Policy • Cancellation Policy