Enhanced electrostricitive properties and thermal endurance of textured (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3–BaTiO3–(K0.5Na0.5)NbO3 ceramics

Textured 0.92(Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3–0.06BaTiO3–0.02(K0.5Na0.5)NbO3 (BNT–BT–KNN) ceramics have been produced by tape casting with pure-phase (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3 templates. Through the approach of texture construction, enhanced electrostrictive response was obtained with an electrostrictive coefficient Q33 (∼0.024 m4/C2 at 60 kV/cm) and good thermostability comparable with that of traditional Pb-based electrostrictors. Even at an electric-field as low as 35 kV/cm or at a temperature as high as 180 °C, samples still possess a large electrostrictive response with Q33 > 0.022 m4/C2, suggesting it is very promising for practical applications as a lead-free electrostrictive material owning to its wide usage range. Moreover, reducing the applied electric-filed or increasing temperature can both induce the predominant to pure electrostriction transition due to the little contributions of electrostriction strain from ferroelectric domain switching. Our work may provide a new recipe for designing high-performance BNT-based lead-free electrostrictive materials by means of texture construction.