Electromechanical properties of ternary BiFeO₃−0.35BaTiO₃–BiGaO₃ piezoelectric ceramics

In the present work, composition dependent crystal structure, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and temperature dependent dielectric properties of the BiGaO₃-modified (1–x)(0.65Bi_1.05FeO₃–0.35BaTiO₃) (BFBT35–xBG, where x = 0.00–0.03) lead-free ceramics were systematically investigated by solid-state reaction method, followed by water quenching process. The substitution of BG successfully diffuses into the lattice of the BFBT ceramics, without changing the pseudo-cubic structure of the samples. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results revealed that the average grain size was increased with BG-content in BFBT system. The BFBT–xBG ceramics showed a maximum in permittivity (ɛ_max) at temperatures (T_max) above 500 °C in the compositional range of 0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.03. The electro-strain is measured to be 0.125% (d^* ₃₃ ~ 250 pm/V) under unipolar fields (5 kV/mm) for BFBT–0.01BG ceramics. The same composition (x = 0.01), large static piezoelectric constant (d₃₃ ~ 165 pC/N) and electromechanical coupling factor (k_p ~ 25%) were obtained. The above investigated characterizations suggests that BFBT–BG material is favorable for piezoelectric and high temperature applications.