High Strain, 〈001〉 Textured 0.675Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O ₃ –0.325PbTiO ₃ Ceramics: Templated Grain Growth and Piezoelectric Properties

Lead magnesium niobate–lead titanate, 0.675Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –0.325PbTiO 3 (PMN–32.5PT) ceramics were textured (grain‐oriented) in the 〈001〉‐crystallographic direction by the templated grain growth process. The textured PMN–32.5PT ceramics were produced by orienting {001}‐SrTiO 3 (ST) platelets (∼10 μm in diameter and ∼2‐μm thickness) in a submicron PMN–32.5PT matrix. The templated growth of 〈001〉‐oriented PMN–32.5PT grains on the ST platelets resulted in textured ceramics with ∼70% Lotgering factor and >98% theoretical density. Unlike most lead‐based ceramics, excess PbO was not needed for sintering or grain growth. Based on unipolar stain‐field measurements at 0.2 Hz, the textured samples displayed >0.3% strain at 50 kV/cm. Low‐field d 33 ‐coefficients of >1600 pC/N (<5 kV/cm) were measured directly from unipolar measurements. The low drive field d 33 ‐piezoelectric coefficient of the highly textured samples is two times greater than polycrystalline PMN–32.5PT.