Texture development in Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.90Zr0.10O3 lead-free ceramics prepared by reactive template grain growth with different Ba and Ca sources

Textured Ba0.83Ca0.15Ti0.90Zr0.10O3 (BCZT) ceramics with high degree of orientation f=0.95 are prepared by reactive templated grain growth (RTGG) process using plate-like BaTiO3 templates. XRD patterns and SEM micrographs of BCZT specimens fabricated at different stages of RTGG are employed to determine the texture development of textured BCZT ceramics with different Ba and Ca sources. Texture cannot be well developed in BCZT system with raw materials containing carbonate (BaCO3, CaCO3), while the BCZT system prepared by raw materials without carbonate (BaZrO3, CaTiO3) can obtain well-developed textured structure. To form BCZT structure, the Zr4+ and Ca2+ ions are diffused into BaTiO3 crystal lattice at different temperature during sintering. Comparing with the BCZT ceramics with carbonate as raw materials, samples without carbonate required lower temperature. A low-field driven high unipolar electrostrain for the BCZT system prepared by the raw materials without carbonate could reach 0.153% at 2 kV/mm, corresponding to a high normalized strain d(33)*=767 pm/V. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.