Grain size effects on piezoelectric properties of BaTiO3 ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

Grain size effects on permittivity, piezoelectric constant d 33 and electric field-induced strain of BaTiO3 ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering were studied systematically in this study. It was found that in our studied grain size range they all showed clear grain size effects, while their variations with grain size were distinctly different. With increasing grain size, the permittivity decreases monotonically due to decreased domain wall density, the piezoelectric constant d 33 keeps increasing because of the increased domain alignment which is related to the increase of 180° domain and decreased clamping effect on 90° domain switching by grain boundaries, the electric field-induced strain maximize at intermediate grain size which is due to the maximization of reversible 90° domain switching.