Low‐temperature sintering of BF‐PT‐BZ ternary solid solutions with enhanced piezoelectric properties

Abstract The 0.34BiFeO 3 ‐0.46PbTiO 3 ‐0.2BaZrO 3 (BF‐PT‐0.2BZ) ternary solid solutions were prepared by the solid‐state reaction methods. Different amounts of Li 2 CO 3 ‐Bi 2 O 3 (LB) additives were introduced into the based materials after the calcination process. Upon using LB additives, the sintering temperature of BF‐PT‐0.2BZ ceramics was lowered to 950°C, while the relative density was enhanced to the highest of about 97% for LB of 1 wt%. XRD results indicate that BF‐PT‐0.2BZ ceramics exhibit the perovskite structure without detectable second phases. SEM images reveal that BF‐PT‐0.2BZ ceramics are well densified and the grain size is enhanced with the addition of LB. Moreover, the piezoelectric properties are enhanced significantly, achieving the highest d 33 and bipolar strain of 350 pC/N and 0.53%, respectively, for BF‐PT‐0.2BZ ceramics with LB of 1 wt%. Our results indicate that low‐temperature sintered BF‐PT‐0.2BZ ceramics with excellent piezoelectric properties have promising applications in multilayer piezoelectric actuators.