0.36BiScO3-0.64PbTiO3 piezoelectric ceramics for high temperature ultrasonic transducer applications

0.36BiScO3-0.64PbTiO3 (0.36BS-0.64PT) piezoelectric ceramics with high Curie temperature and good piezoelectric properties comparable to commercial PZT ceramics were fabricated through traditional solid-state reaction method. Microstructural morphology, phase transition, and electrical properties of 0.36BS-0.64PT ceramics were investigated systematically. A high temperature single element ultrasonic transducer was designed and fabricated using this ceramic. The temperature stability of the piezoelectric, and acoustic properties of the transducer was investigated in detail. It was found that the 0.36BS-0.64PT based transducer can maintain reasonably good performance at temperatures as high as 200 °C. The center frequency was found around 4 MHz and changed slightly with the temperature from 30 °C to 200 °C. The −6 dB bandwidth was found over 12% at 200 °C. The results show that the 0.36BS-0.64PT ceramics have great potential for high-temperature ultrasonic transducer applications.