An effect that occurs when certain materials are subjected to mechanical stress. A dielectric polarization is set up in the crystal and the faces of the crystal became electrically charged. The polarity of the charges reverses if the compression is changed to tension. Conversely, an electric field applied across the material causes it to contract or expand according to the sign of the electric field.
The piezoelectric effect is reversible with an approximately linear relation between deformation and electric field strength. The piezoelectric strain constant, d, is defined as
where δek is the incremental stress and δEi the change in electric field strength along defined axes in the crystal (i ≡ x, y, z and k ≡ xx, yy, zz, yz, zx, xy).
The piezoelectric effect is observed in all ferroelectric crystals and in nonferroelectric crystals that are asymmetric and have one or more polar axes. The magnitude of the piezoelectric effect depends on the direction of the stress relative to the crystal axes. The maximum effect is obtained when the electrical and mechanical stresses are applied along the X-axis (the electric axis) and the Y-axis (the mechanical axis), respectively. The third major axis of a piezoelectric crystal is the Z-axis (the optical axis).
The piezoelectric effect is important because it couples electrical and mechanical energy and thus has many applications for electromechanical transducers.