Effect of calcination temperature on structural, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of strontium bismuth niobate ceramics

Lead-free piezoelectric ceramics have been widely used for aerospace and power generating industrial and medical imaging applications in ultrasonic transducers and noninvasive therapy. Bismuth-layered structure ferroelectrics (BLSF) are the potential candidates for high-temperature piezoceramics. In the present work, the influence of calcination temperature is studied on the structural, dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of strontium bismuth niobate (SBN) ceramics prepared by conventional solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction studies reveal the maximum orthorhombic distortion for the sample calcined at 1000 degrees C. Scanning electron micrographs display the effect of calcination treatment on the microstructures. Dielectric studies indicate a sharp phase transition with minimum losses for the sample calcined at 1000 degrees C. The highest value of piezoelectric charge constant (d(33) = 14pC/N) and remnant polarization (2P(r) = 11.2 mu C/cm(2)) was obtained for the sample calcined at 1000 degrees C. The changes in structural, dielectric and piezoelectric properties have been correlated.