Preparation of [110] Grain Oriented Barium Titanate Ceramics by Templated Grain Growth Method and Their Piezoelectric Properties

TLDR

The study aimed to optimize preparation conditions—matrix particle size, template‑to‑matrix volume fraction, and sintering temperature—to achieve both high density and high [110] orientation (F110). Using templated grain growth, [110]-oriented BaTiO₃ platelike templates and hydrothermal BaTiO₃ spheres formed the matrix; orientation was quantified by X‑ray diffraction Lotgering analysis, and the resulting ceramics were poled at 100 °C and their piezoelectric constants measured by resonance–antiresonance and d33 meter techniques. The optimized ceramics exhibited densities above 96 % across F110 values of 0–98 %, uniform grain sizes of ~75 µm without anisotropic microstructures, d31 values near –50 pC/N regardless of F110, and d33 values that rose with F110, peaking at 788 pC/N.

Abstract

[110]-oriented barium titanate (BaTiO3) ceramics were prepared by templated grain growth (TGG) method using [110]-oriented BaTiO3 platelike particles as a template and hydrothermal BaTiO3 sphere particles with different particle sizes as a matrix. The degree of orientation along the [110] direction, F110, was measured using an X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern by the Lotgering method. To obtain both a high density and a high F110, the preparation conditions were optimized as functions of matrix particle size, volume fraction of the template to the matrix, and sintering temperature. As for the results, BaTiO3-grain-oriented ceramics with a high density of more than 96% were successfully prepared despite various F110 values from 0 to 98%. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that their average grain sizes were always approximately 75 µm despite various F110 values and there were no anisotropic microstructures. These grain-oriented BaTiO3 ceramics were poled at 100 °C, and their piezoelectric properties were measured using a resonance–antiresonance method and a piezo d33 meter for d31 and d33 piezoelectric constants. As for the results, the d31 values were almost constant at -50 pC/N despite various F110 values, while the d33 values increased with increasing F110 values, and at around an F110 of 85%, d33 reached a maximum of 788 pC/N.