Optical properties of Bi12SiO20 (BSO) and Bi12TiO20 (BTO) obtained by mechanical alloying

Mechanical alloying has been used successfully to produce nanocrystalline powders of BTO and BSO. The milled BTO and BSO were studied by x-ray powder diffraction, DTA, infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy. After 7 hours of milling the formation of BTO and BSO was confirmed by x-ray powder diffraction. The infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy results suggest that the increase of the milling time lead to the formation of ferroelectric BTO and BSO, as seen by x-ray diffraction analysis. These materials are attractive for various electro-optical devices, including optical data processing. They present a number of attractive features as reversible recording materials for real-time holography and image processing applications. This milling process presents the advantage, that melting is not necessary, and the powder obtained is nanocrystalline with extraordinary mechanical properties. The material, can be compacted and transformed in solid piezoelectric ceramic samples. The high efficiency of the process, opens a way to produce commercial amount of nanocrystalline piezoelectric powders. Due to the nanocrystalline character of this powder, their mechanical properties have changed and for this reason a pressure of 1 GPa is enough to shape the sample into any geometry. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.