Single crystal growth in PMN-PT and PMN-PZT

Abstract

Single crystal growth of lead-based piezoelectric ceramics Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.68Ti0.32O3 (PMN-32PT) and Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.42(Ti0.638Zr0.362)0.58O3 (PMN-37PT-21PZ) ceramics via templated grain growth (TGG) was investigated. (001)- and (111)-oriented BaTiO3 (BT) single crystals and (001)-oriented SrTiO3 (ST) single crystals (of approximately 2.5 × 2.5 × 1 mm) were utilized as seeds for the growth experiments. The piezoelectric single crystals were produced in a process that involves at first hot pressing of single crystal in cold isostatically pressed ceramics followed by subsequent sintering of the samples. Growth of (001)-oriented single crystals with BT seeds was observed in both PMN-32PT and PMN-37PT-21PZ matrices. The measured growth lengths were up to 140 and 65 μm, respectively. The grown (001)-oriented single crystals grown were rectangular. The measured growth lengths of the pyramidal-shaped (111) BT single crystals were up to 1 mm, which is much larger than the growth lengths of the (001) single crystals. Experiments on (001) ST-seeded single crystals were not successful. No single crystal growth was observed due to the dissolution of the ST single crystals in the PMN-PZT matrix. The differences were explained by defect-chemical considerations.