Screen Printing to Achieve Highly Textured Bi4Ti3O12

The focus of this paper is to explore the efficacy of screen printing to generate crystalline texture in bismuth titanate through the orientation of highly anisotropic seed crystals. Seed crystals were grown through a molten salt flux technique with aspect ratios of similar to 100:1, mixed with equiaxed powder of the same composition and oriented using screen printing, a high shear process. By printing on a flexible polymer substrate and using multiple print/dry cycles, it was possible to create pads with a thickness of several hundred micrometers and to remove the dried pads, creating free-standing samples. Upon sintering, the seed crystals grew at the expense of the matrix powder, a process known as templated grain growth. The degree of texture was analyzed using a variety of techniques including scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and electron backscatter diffraction.