• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.457-463
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• 2024

(Bi_1/2Na_1/2)TiO₃(BNT) piezoelectric ceramics are one of the promising materials that can replace Pb(Zr, Ti)O₃(PZT) piezoelectric ceramics due to the high electromechanical strain properties. However, it is still difficult to use practical applications because the required electric field for inducing electromechanical strain is relatively higher than that of PZT ceramics. To overcome this problem, it has been intensively studied on doping impurity or modifying other ABO₃ for BNT-based piezoelectric ceramics. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of La₂O₃ doping on the phase transition behavior and electromechanical strain properties in BNT-SrTiO₃ (BNT-ST) lead-free piezoelectric ceramics. In the case of the temperature-dependent dielectric properties, it was confirmed that a phase transition from ferroelectrics to relaxors is induced with increasing La₂O₃ content. As a result, the electromechanical strain properties of BNT-ST ceramics were improved. The highest S_max/E_max value corresponding to 300 pm/V was obtained at 2 mol% La₂O₃-dopped BNT-ST ceramics. Accordingly, this study successfully demonstrated that La₂O₃ doping is effective on the inducing phase transition from ferroelectrics to relaxors and the improving electromechanical strain properties of BNT-ST lead-free piezoelectric ceramics.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.548-559
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• 1996

A series of performance measurements of positron emission tomography (PET) were performed following the recommendations of the Computer and Instrumentation Council of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. We investigated the performance of the General Electric $Advance^{TM}$ PET. The measurements include the basic intrinsic tests of spatial resolution, scatter fraction, sensitivity, and count rate losses and randoms. They also include the tests of the accuracy of corrections: count rate linearity correction, uniformity correction, scatter correction and attenuation correction. GE $Advance^{TM}$ PET has bismuth germanate oxide crystals (4.0mm transaxial ${\times}$ 8.1mm axial ${\times}$ 30.0mm radial) in 18 rings, which form 35 imaging planes spaced by 4.25mm. The system has retractable tungsten septa 1mm thick and 12cm long. Transaxial resolution was 4.92mm FWHM in 2D and 5.14mm FWHM in 3D at the center. Average axial resolution in 2D decreased from 3.91mm FWHM at the center to 6.49mm FWHM at R=20cm. Average scatter fraction of direct and cross slices was 9.57%. Dead-time losses of 50% corresponded to a radioactivity concentration of $4.86{\mu}Ci/cc$ and a true count rate of 519 kcps in 2D. The accuracy of count rate linearity correction was 1.84% at the activity of $4.50{\mu}Ci/cc$. Non-uniformity was 2.06% in 2D and 2.93% in 3D. Remnant errors after scatter correction were 0.55% in 2D and 4.12% in 3D. The errors of attenuation correction were 6.21% (air), 0.20% (water), -6.32% (teflon) in 2D and 5.00% (air), 6.94% (water), 3.01% (teflon) in 3D. The results indicate the performance of GE $Advance^{TM}$ PET scanner to be well suited for clinical and research applications.