Texture development and enhanced electromechanical properties in <00l>-textured BNT-based materials

Grain-oriented lead-free piezoceramics 0.83(Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3-0.17(Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3 was synthesized with different grain orientation along the <00l> crystallographic orientation using plate-like NaNbO3 templates. The effects of degree of texturing on the microstructure, phase transition temperature and resulting changes in piezoelectric and strain response of ceramics were explored. The electromechanical properties increased monotonously with increasing the degree of texturing. A high <00l> texture degree of 91% was obtained, giving rise to larger electromechanical properties of d33=217pC/N, kp=35%, S=0.246%, and Smax/Emax=410 pm/V in textured samples relative to the conventional polycrystalline counterparts. Furthermore, the grain oriented ceramics exhibited improved temperature stability as compared to its randomly oriented form. This work opens the possibility of achieving BNT-based high performance ceramics.