• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.628-633
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• 2011

Studies on lead-free piezoelectrics have been attractive as means of meeting environmental requirements. We synthesized lead-free piezoelectric $(Bi_{1/2}Na_{1/2})TiO_3-Ba(Cu_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})O_3$ (BNT-BCN) ceramics, and their dielectric, piezoelectric, and strain behavior were characterized. As BCN with a tetragonal phase was incorporated into the rhombohedral BNT lattice, the lattice constant increased. A small amount of BCN increased the density and dielectric constant forming the complete solid solution with BNT. However, BCN above 10 mol% was precipitated into a separate phase, and which was detected with XRD. In addition, EDX measurement revealed that Cu in BCN was not distributed homogeneously but was accumulated in a certain area. A lower density with a large amount of BCN was attributed to the nonsinterable property of BCN with large tetragonaliy. The dielectric constant vs the temperature change and the strain vs the electric field indicated that the ferroelectric property of BNT was diminished and paraelectric behavior was enhanced with the BCN addition. BNT-7.5BCN showed a 0.11% unimorph strain with a 9.0 kV/mm electric field with little hysteresis.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.405-409
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• 2019

Piezoelectric ceramic specimens with the $Pb(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})_{0.65}Ti_{0.35}O_3$ (PMN-PT) composition are prepared by the solid state reaction method known as the "columbite precursor" method. Moreover, the effects of the $Li_2O-Bi_2O_3$ additive on the microstructure, crystal structure, and piezoelectric properties of sintered PMN-PT ceramic samples are investigated. The addition of $Li_2O-Bi_2O_3$ lowers the sintering temperature from $1,200^{\circ}C$ to $950^{\circ}C$. Moreover, with the addition of >5 wt.% additive, the crystal structure changes from tetragonal to rhombohedral. Notably, the sample with 3 wt.% additive exhibits excellent piezoelectric properties ($d_{33}=596pC/N$ and Kp = 57%) and a sintered density of $7.92g/cm^3$ after sintering at $950^{\circ}C$. In addition, the sample exhibits a curie temperature of $138.6^{\circ}C$ at 1 kHz. Finally, the compatibility of the sample with a Cu electrode is examined, because the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy data indicate the absence of interdiffusion between Cu and the ceramic material.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.505-512
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• 2023

This study investigated crystal structures, microstructures, and electric-field-induced strain (EFIS) properties of Bi-based lead-free ferroelectric/relaxor composites. Bi_1/2Na_0.82K_0.18)_1/2TiO₃ (BNKT) as a ferroelectric material and 0.78Bi_1/2(Na_0.78K_0.22)_1/2TiO₃-0.02LaFeO₃ (BNKT2LF) as a relaxor material were synthesized using a conventional solid-state reaction method, and the resulting BNKT2LF powders were subjected to high-energy ball milling (HEBM) after calcination. As a result, HEBM proved a larger average grain size of sintered samples compared to conventional ball milling (CBM). In addition, the increased sintering time led to grain growth. Furthermore, HEBM treatment and sintering time demonstrated a significant effect on EFIS of BNKT/BNKT2LF composites. At 6 kV/mm, 0.35% of the maximum strain (S_max) was observed in the HEBM sample sintered for 12 h. The unipolar strain curves of CBM samples were almost linear, indicating almost no phase transitions, while HEBM samples displayed phase transitions at 5~6 kV/mm for all sintering time levels, showing the highest S_max/E_max value of 700 pm/V. These results indicated that HEBM treatment with a long sintering time might significantly enhance the electromechanical strain properties of BNT-based ceramics.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2024

The measurement of strain under an electric field has been widely employed to comprehend the fundamental principles of electro-mechanical responses in ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and electrostrictive materials. In particular, understanding the strain properties of piezoelectric materials in response to electrical stimulation is crucial for researching and developing components such as piezoelectric actuators, acoustic devices, and ultrasonic generators. This tutorial paper introduces the components and operational principles of the linear variable differential transducer (LVDT), a widely used displacement measurement device in various industries. Additionally, we present the configuration of an experimental setup using LVDT to measure the strain characteristics of ferroelectric, piezoelectric, or electrostrictive materials under the application of an electric field. This paper includes simple measurement results and analyses obtained through the LVDT experimental setup, providing valuable information on research methods for the electro-mechanical interactions of various materials.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.263-269
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• 2017

A piezoelectric cantilever energy harvester (PCEH) driven in longitudinal (3-3) vibration mode was fabricated, and its electrical properties were evaluated by varying the resistive load. A commercial PZT piezoelectric ceramic with a high piezoelectric charge constant ($d_{33}$) of 520 pC/N and the interdigitated (IDT) electrode pattern was used to fabricate the PCEH driven in longitudinal vibration. The IDT Ag electrode embedded piezoelectric laminates were co-fired at $850^{\circ}C$ for 2 h. The 3-3 mode PCEH was successfully fabricated by attaching the piezoelectric laminates to a SUS304 elastic substrate. The PCEH exhibited a high output power of 3.8 mW across the resistive load of $100k{\Omega}$ at 100 Hz and 1.5 G. This corresponds to a power density of $10.3mW/cm^3$ and a normalized global power factor of $4.56mW/g^2{\cdot}cm^3$. Given the other PCEH driven in transverse (3-1) vibration mode, the 3-3 mode PCEH could be better for vibration energy harvesting applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.194-194
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• 2008

Lead oxide based ceramics, represented by PZT, are the most widely used materials for piezoelectric actuators, sensors, and transducers due to their excellent piezoelectric properties. In particular, high-performance multilayered piezoelectric ceramics for advanced electronic components have drawn great attention. In order to develop piezoelectric ceramics capable of being sintered at low temperature for multilayer piezoelectric device applications, the effect of CuO additions on the microstructures and electromechanical properties of the 0.4Pb$(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})O_3-0.25PbZrO_3-0.35PbTiO_3$ ceramics was investigated. The samples with CuO addition were synthesized by ordinary sintering technique. X-ray diffractions indicated that all samples formed a single phase perovskite structure. The addition of CuO improved the sinterability of the samples and caused an increase in the density and grain size at low temperature. The optimum sintering temperature was lowered by CuO additions. Excellent piezoelectric and electromechanical responses, $d_{33}$ ~ 663 pC/N, $k_p$ ~ 0.72, were obtained for the samples of high density with 0.1 wt% CuO addition sintered at $1050^{\circ}C$ for 4 h in air. These results show that the piezoelectric properties of PMNZT ceramics can be improved by controlling the microstructure and this system is potentially a good candidate as multilayer piezoelectric device for a wide range of electro-mechanical transducer applications.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.342-347
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• 2016

We investigated the effect of $Bi_{1/2}(Na_{0.82}K_{0.18})_{1/2}TiO_3$ (BNKT) modification on the ferroelectric and electric-field-induced strain (EFIS) properties of lead-free $0.97Bi_{1/2}(Na_{0.82}K_{0.18})_{1/2}TiO_3-0.03LaFeO_3$ (BNKTLF) ceramics as a function of BNKT content (x= 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, and 1). BNKT-modified BNKTLF powders were synthesized using a conventional solid-state reaction method. As the BNKT content x increased from 0 to 1 the normalized electric-field-induced strain ($S_{max}/E_{max}$) was observed to increase at relatively low fields, i.e., below the poling field. Moreover, BNKTLF-30BNKT showed about 460 pm/V as low as at 3 kV/mm, which is a considerably high value among the lead-free systems reported so far. Consequently, it was confirmed that ceramic-ceramic composite, a mixture of an ergodic relaxor matrix and embedded ferroelectric seeds, is a salient way to make lead-free piezoelectrics practical with enhanced EFIS at low field as well as less hysterical.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.581-588
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• 2016

Piezoelectric thick films of a soft $Pb(Zr,Ti)O_3$ (PZT) based commercial material were produced by a conventional tape casting method. Thereafter, the interdigitated (IDT) Ag-Pd electrode pattern was printed on the $25{\mu}m$ thick piezoelectric film at room temperature. Co-firing of the 10-layer laminated piezoelectric thick films was conducted at $1,100^{\circ}C$ and $1,150^{\circ}C$ for 1 h, respectively. Piezoelectric cantilever energy harvesters were successfully fabricated using the IDT electrode pattern embedded piezoelectric laminates for 3-3 operation mode. Their energy harvesting characteristics were investigated with an excitation of 120 Hz and 1 g under various resistive loads (ranging from $10k{\Omega}$ to $200k{\Omega}$). A parabolic increase of voltage and a linear decrease of current were shown with an increase of resistive load for all the energy harvesters. In particular, a high output power of 3.64 mW at $100k{\Omega}$ was obtained from the energy harvester (sintered at $1,150^{\circ}C$).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.433-438
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• 2024

Piezoelectric ceramics play an important role in various electronic applications. However, traditional ceramics are difficult to be used in some complicated structures, due to their low flexibility and high brittleness. To solve this problem, this study prepared and investigated ceramic/polymer composites that can utilize a good flexibility of polymers. Polyvinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) and 0.77(Bi_1/2Na_1/2)TiO₃-0.23SrTiO₃ (BNST23) ceramics were selected to fabricate the composites. Ceramic/polymer composites were prepared using various volume fractions of BNST23 ceramics. The distribution of piezoceramic particles in BNST23/PVDF-TrFE composites was investigated using optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the composites were significantly influenced by the volume fraction of the piezoelectric ceramics. As a result, the highest piezoelectric constant (d₃₃) of 56 pC/N was obtained in a composites with 70% volume fraction of BNST23 ceramics. Accordingly, it is expected that BNST23/PVDF-TrFE composites can be applied to various sensor applications.