Low temperature sintering and properties of piezoelectric ceramics PSNT-Mn with LiBiO2 addition

Low temperature sintering of Pb(Sc1/2Nb1/2)O3-PbTiO3 (PSNT) piezoelectric materials was studied with the use of LiBiO2 (LBiO) as a sintering aids. The sintering aids improved the sinterability of manganese modified PSNT ceramics due to the effect of LBiO liquid phase, resulting in a reduction of the firing temperature by ∼350–400 °C. The microstructure of the sintered materials, together with the dielectric and piezoelectric properties were investigated. The 1 wt.% LBiO-added PSNT-Mn ceramics sintered at 950 °C for 2 h exhibit piezoelectric coefficient of 340 pC/N with a Curie temperature around 263 °C, the electromechanical coupling factor kp, dielectric constant K33T and mechanical quality factor Q were found to be 61.5%, 1300 and 800, respectively, demonstrating that it is a promising material for multilayer piezoelectric actuator and transformer applications.