Effects of sintering temperature and poling conditions on the electrical properties of Ba0.70Ca0.30TiO3 diphasic piezoelectric ceramics

Abstract: The effects of sintering temperature and poling conditions on the electrical properties of tetragonal and orthorhombic diphasic Ba0.70Ca0.30TiO3 (BCT) lead-free ceramics have been systematically investigated. On the one hand, with increasing sintering temperature from 1270°C to 1400°C, the bulk density increases monotonically and the Curie temperature keeps almost constant with the value of ∼120°C, whereas the grain size, the maximum relative dielectric constant, room temperature polarization reach the maximum values for samples sintered at 1340°C. On the other hand, it is found that the piezoelectric property depends on poling electric field and poling temperature significantly. An enhanced piezoelectric behavior of d 33=126pC/N, k p =0.29, and Q m =588 is obtained for the BCT ceramics poled at 100°C with 30kV/cm field for 20min. The aging behavior of the piezoelectric property is also investigated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]