Eu and Yb Substituent Effects on the Properties of Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃–Pb(Mn_1/3Sb_2/3)O₃ Ceramics: Development of a New High-Power Piezoelectric with Enhanced Vibrational Velocity

Abstract

Improved piezoelectric materials with higher vibrational velocities are needed to meet the demands of advanced high power electromechanical applications. In this paper, the effects of Eu and Yb substituents on the vibrational velocity and the piezoelectric properties of Pb(Zr, Ti)O 3 –Pb(Mn, Sb)O 3 ceramics will be reported. Both of these substituents resulted in a significant increase in the mechanical quality factor Q m , a decrease in the dielectric constant, and improvements in the electromechanical properties. Root mean square value (rms value) of vibration velocity as high as 1.0 m/s under an electric field of 10 kV/m (rms value) has been found for Yb-substituted specimens, which is 1.7 times higher than that of Pb(Zr, Ti)O 3 –Pb(Mn, Sb)O 3 ceramics and 3 times higher than that of the commercialized hard Pb(Zr, Ti)O 3 ceramics.