Enhanced electromechanical properties of (1-x)BiFeO3-BaTiO3-xLiNbO3 ceramics by quenching process

A new lead-free piezoelectric ceramics (1-x) (0.67Bi1.05FeO3 - 0.33BaTiO3)-x LiNbO3, abbreviated as BFBT-LNx (x = 0.00-0.030), were fabricated by conventional mixed oxide route following by quenching process and crystal structure and electromechanical properties were discussed. X-ray diffraction pattern showed that LiNbO3 addition into 0.67Bi1.05FeO3 - 0.33BaTiO3 system did not caused any significant change in crystal structure. However, an obvious variation in electrical properties was observed. It is revealed from electrical properties that the modification of LiNbO3 induces a phase transition from a ferroelectric to relaxor state in the 0.67Bi1.05FeO3 - 0.33BaTiO3 system. At optimum composition (x = 0.010), enhanced field-induced strain with large dynamic piezoelectric constant Smax/Emax = d*33 = 500 pm / V at a relatively low field of 3.5 kV / mm with lower hysteresis loss of 40% was recorded. For this composition, a high Curie temperature TC ~ 390 °C was found. These properties suggests that the synthesized system is promising for high temperature actuator applications.