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

Abstract A new lead-free piezoelectric ceramics (1– x ) (0.67Bi 1.05 FeO 3 – 0.33BaTiO 3 )– x LiNbO 3 , abbreviated as BFBT-LN x ( 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 LiNbO 3 addition into 0.67Bi 1.05 FeO 3 – 0.33BaTiO 3 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 LiNbO 3 induces a phase transition from a ferroelectric to relaxor state in the 0.67Bi 1.05 FeO 3 – 0.33BaTiO 3 system. At optimum composition ( x = 0.010), enhanced field-induced strain with large dynamic piezoelectric constant S max / E max = 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 T C ~ 390 °C was found. These properties suggests that the synthesized system is promising for high temperature actuator applications.