Inhomogeneity issues in the growth of Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3-BaTiO3 single crystals

Lead-free piezoelectric single crystals of Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3-BaTiO3 (NBT-BT) have been grown by flux and zone melting techniques. Growth was carried out by employing two flux systems: (a) Bi2O3 and (b) Bi2O3 and Na2CO3 fluxes. In order to avoid the serious problem of composition variations suffered in flux growth technique, metal strip heated zone melting (MSHZM) technique was employed for the growth of NBT-BT crystals. Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis was carried out for the grown crystals and the composition variations in the crystals obtained from flux and MSHZM techniques were analyzed. Results reveal that the composition variations suffered in the flux-grown crystals have been avoided by adopting the zone melting technique. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.