Fabrication of textured BNKLT ceramics by reactive templated grain growth using NBT templates

Textured Bi0.5Na0.35K0.1Li0.05TiO3(BNKLT) ceramics have been fabricated by a reactive templated grain growth method using plate-like Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3(NBT) templates. The NBT templates were synthesized from bismuth layer-structured ferroelectric Na0.5Bi4.5Ti4O15particles by the topochemical method. After reactively sintering at 1085 °C for 12 h, the ceramic textured with 20 wt% NBT templates contained a large fraction of grains aligned with their a-axis normal to the sample surface, giving a Lotgering factor of 0.6. Along with a slight decrease in the depolarization temperature, the piezoelectric properties were improved, giving a piezoelectric coefficient of 300 pC N-1, a planar-mode and a thickness-mode electromechanical coupling coefficients of 0.39 and 0.56, respectively.