High electric‐field‐induced strain of SnO₂‐modified PLSBZT ceramic for actuator applications

In this study, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of the Pb 0.931 La 0.006 Sr 0.03 Ba 0.03 (Zr 0.535 Ti 0.465 )O 3 – x wt%SnO 2 (PLSBZT– x wt%SnO 2 ) with x = 0–0.6 were investigated comprehensively. When the content of SnO 2 was 0.55 wt%, the sample achieved optimum properties obtaining a high Curie temperature (259°C) and a large strain (0.203% at 20 kV/cm). In particular, the sample's maximum strain ( S max ) remained stable with a variation of less than 4% between −20 and 120°C. Moreover, the PLSBZT–0.55 wt%SnO 2 ceramic not only presented a small ε r value of 1662, enabling the actuator to respond quickly, but also had a high value of g 33 (35.8 × 10 −3 V/m/N). These results implied that SnO 2 ‐modified PLSBZT ceramics have significant potential for actuator applications owing to their high Curie temperature, large electric‐field‐induced strain, fast response, and good strain–temperature stability.