Reactive templated grain growth of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 ceramics using MgO-doped (Na,Bi)0.4Pb0.6TiO3 template

Abstract

Textured Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) piezoelectric ceramics with an anisotropic crystal structure were fabricated by reactive templated grain growth (RTGG) using MgO-doped (Na1/2Bi1/2)TiO3–PbTiO3 (MNBT-PT) seed. The crystal growth of MNBT-PT seed was stimulated by the addition of MgO, resulting in a rectangular single-crystal template with a width of 5∼20 μm and a thickness of 3∼5 μm. These rectangular MNBT-PT seeds effectively reduced the sintering temperature of the PMN-PT matrix, and the reaction occurred through in-situ topochemical conversion, leading to a single perovskite phase with an oriented texture. Because the MNBT-PT seeds with tetragonal structure altered the crystal structure matrix phase to be tetragonal-rich, the matrix phase of PMN-PT had to be optimized by adjusting the PMN/PT ratio to achieve optimal piezoelectric properties. The textured PMN-PT piezoelectric ceramic created using the reactive MNBT-PT seeds demonstrated superior piezoelectric/ferroelectric properties (d33 of 951 pC/N, kp of 0.64 and Pr of 24.9 μC/cm2) compared to ceramics with BaTiO3 (BT) seed made under the same conditions. This improvement is likely due to the formation of a textured single phase crystal structure.