Examination of selectivity of templates for the textured potassium sodium niobate ceramics

Abstract

To achieve the surface-orientation-controlled microstructure of K(0.5)Na(0.5)NbO(3), not only the template must exhibit the high anisotropy like a plate-shape but the reactive stability as well as the crystallographic coherency between the template and the K(0.5)Na(0.5)NbO(3) must be carefully considered. In this work, we focused on what kinds of ceramics are suitable for the fabrication of the surface-orientation-controlled K(0.5)Na(0.5)NbO(3). First of all, BaTiO(3), SrTiO(3), Ba(Zr(0.1)Ti(0.9))O(3), KNbO(3), NaNbO(3), KTaO(3) and NaTaO(3) were chosen as the candidates in the regard of the crystallographic coherency. To verify the chemical stability between candidate ceramics and K(0.5)Na(0.5)NbO(3), the prepared candidate ceramic bulks were embedded by the K(0.5)Na(0.5)NbO(3) powder, they were annealed at 1100 degrees C, and then the interface regions between candidate ceramics and K(0.5)Na(0.5)NbO(3) were investigated using Secondary Electron Microscopy (SEM) equipped with Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS). From these experimental results, BaTiO(3), SrTiO(3), Ba(Zr(0.1)Ti(0.9))O(3), KNbO(3) and NaTaO(3) were found to be not appropriate for the templates for the tailoring of K(0.5)Na(0.5)NbO(3), while the NaNbO(3) and KTaO(3) showed a good crystallographic coherency and a chemical stability with K(0.5)Na(0.5)NbO(3). (c) 2010 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.