Effects of CeO2 addition on the piezoelectric properties of PNW-PMN-PZT ceramics

Temperature stability and electrical properties of the piezoelectric material are very important in piezoelectric transformers applications. In this study, it was investigated the temperature stability of PNW-PMN-PZT with CeO2 additives and the variation of Zr/Ti ratio. Meanwhile, effects of CeO2 additives and the variation of Zr/Ti ratio on the microstructure and electrical properties of PNW-PMN-PZT were investigated in detail. The results revealed that the optimized temperature stability Of Delta f(r)/f(r25) (degrees C) = 0.15%, Delta K-p/K-p25 (degrees C) = -0.86% and Delta Q(m)/Q(m25) (degrees C) = -45.26% could be attained at x = 0.1 wt.% and Zr/Ti = 51/49. Moreover, optimized electrical properties were achieved: K-p = 0.60, Q(m) = 1405, d(33) = 388 pC/N, epsilon(r) = 2140 and tan delta = 0.0059. The obtained temperature stabilities and electrical properties make this composition a good candidate for high power piezoelectric transformer applications. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.