Piezoelectric and elastic properties of β phase quartz

Abstract

Piezoelectric and elastic properties of β quartz have been studied from the α-β transition temperature of 573°C to 1,000°C. Because β quartz belongs to point group 622, piezoelectric vibration by a perpendicular field can only be excited for an off-axial plate such as a rotated Y-cut plate. The piezoelectric and elastic constants were estimated from the resonance characteristics. The piezoelectric constant e14 of β quartz is larger than that for α quartz. It was found that elastic loss of β quartz is relatively low in the high temperature region above 700°C. A very high resonance quality factor was obtained, i.e 15,000 at 600°C and 11,000 at 700°C. β quartz is useful for high performance resonators in the high temperature region between 600 and 1,000°C.