High performance high power textured piezoceramics

Crystallographic grain-oriented ceramics (also referred to as textured ceramics) are known to exhibit a high soft piezoelectric response. However, the role of texturing in hard piezoelectric materials is not well understood and it has been difficult to obtain a balance of hard and soft properties in the same material. Here, we investigate the hard and soft piezoelectric behavior of [001]PC-textured 0.05Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3-0.95[0.4Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.25PbZrO3-0.35PbTiO3] (PMnS-PMN-PZT) ceramics to illustrate the influence of texturing degree. The results demonstrate that textured PMnS-PMN-PZT ceramics exhibit a 170% higher longitudinal mode piezoelectric coefficient (d33) with only 16% reduction in the mechanical quality factor (Qm). Random PMnS-PMN-PZT ceramics were found to exhibit a d33 of 259 pC/N and a Qm of 982, while textured ceramics sintered at the same temperature demonstrated a d33 of 445 and a Qm of 824. Electric field dependent x-ray diffraction is utilized to confirm the existence of internal bias generated from defect dipoles, providing the signature for hard behavior. Temperature dependent measurement of d33 and Qm for textured PMnS-PMN-PZT ceramics indicated high stability up to 120 °C.