Highly Textured BaTiO3 via Templated Grain Growth and Resulting Polarization Reversal Dynamics

Samples of bulk textured polycrystalline BaTiO₃ ceramics were fabricated using a templated grain growth (TGG) approach in order to investigate effects of polycrystallinity and texture related to ferroelectric domain reversal under high‐power drive conditions. Barium titanate platelets were formed via two‐step topochemical conversion of bismuth titanate platelets grown via molten salt synthesis, then aligned via tape casting within a matrix of fine BaTiO₃ powder. The coarse‐grained parts showed a high degree of crystallographic texture after sintering. Combined with ceramics of similar density and polycrystallinity, but random orientation and commercial single‐crystal specimens, this sample set enabled direct isolation of crystallographic texture and polycrystallinity as the primary variables for high‐power polarization reversal studies. These studies have also demonstrated a link between grain size and polarization reversal time that strongly suggests that grain boundaries serve effectively as nucleation sites during the ferroelectric switching process.     

Influence of tape cast parameters on texture formation in alumina by templated grain growth

Templated grain growth (TGG) is known as one of the methods to introduce texture in ceramic materials. In order to obtain a highly textured ceramic material with TGG, it is crucial that the seeding particles are well aligned in the green product. Using the shear forces of the tape cast process makes it possible to align seeding particles with shape anisotropy. The influence of different tape cast process parameters on the formation of texture in alumina ceramics using platelet alumina seeding particles has been investigated and quantified. Experiments have been carried out in which the tape cast speed, the deairing time and the gap between doctor blade and carrier film were varied. Further the effect of the seeding particle concentration and the solids loading of the tape cast suspension are investigated. The results are presented in terms of pole figures and lotgering factors.     

Self-poling and electromechanical response of crystallographically textured PMN-32PT prepared by templated grain growth

Crystallographic texturing of ferroelectrics is known to improve the piezoelectrics response due to the alignment of optimal grain orientations in polycrystalline materials. Using high-energy x-ray diffraction, a ferroelastic self-poling effect was observed in crystallographically textured 0.68 Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃− 0.32PbTiO₃ ceramic. It is shown that the BaTiO₃ platelet templates used to induce crystallographic texture imposed a biaxial strain causing ferroelastic domains to re-orient parallel to the template plate normal. In-situ high-energy x-ray diffraction was then used to characterize the response mechanisms of the material with applied electric fields. The textured ceramic produced a (111) lattice strain of 0.13% in the remanent state, and a 0.16% (111) unipolar lattice strain at 2 kV/mm while the untextured ceramic had a higher (111) lattice strain of 0.18% in the remanent state and a smaller (111) unipolar lattice strain at 2 kV/mm of 0.096%. This contrast in the strain magnitudes can be linked to the self-poling effect. A strain mechanism incorporating the self-poling effect is proposed, furthering our understanding of how crystallographic texture impacts the piezoelectric properties and providing a pathway for engineering the self-poling effect to further enhance material response.     

Tailoring particle alignment and grain orientation during tape casting and templated grain growth

The quality of crystallographic alignment in textured ceramics produced by tape casting and templated grain growth (TGG) has been little studied despite its demonstrated impact on magnetic, piezoelectric, and optical properties. Physical and crystallographic alignment of anisotropic template particles is shown to be directly linked to the casting rate, gap height, and casting viscosity during tape casting. These parameters are shown to affect the shape and magnitude of the shear rate profile under the doctor blade during casting which in turn causes a gradient in the torque acting on anisotropic particles. The magnitude of the torque, the time the slurry is exposed to torque during casting, and the ratio of casting height to template diameter are demonstrated to enable the particle alignment process to be tailored to produce well-aligned template particles. Crystallographic alignment of the textured ceramic was quantified by grain misalignment angle (full width at half maximum, FWHM) and degree of orientation (r) and is directly correlated with the degree of torque during casting. High-quality alignment (FWHM = 4.5°; r = 0.13) was demonstrated in the model TGG system consisting of submicrometer alumina and 5 vol% 11 μm diameter template platelet particles.     

Fabrication of Highly Textured Fine‐Grained α‐Alumina by Templated Grain Growth of Nanoscale Precursors

[0001] textured alumina ceramics with a fine grain size were fabricated between 1400°C and 1600°C via templated grain growth (TGG) using fine alumina platelets (~0.6 and ~3 μm diameter) aligned by tape casting in either a 50 nm α‐Al₂O₃ matrix powder, or in a seeded boehmite sol. The 3 μm templates could be readily aligned by tape casting in both matrices (orientation parameters r = 0.27 and 0.18, respectively), whereas 0.6 μm diameter templates were well aligned in the seeded boehmite sol only (r = 0.29). Improved alignment in boehmite sols is attributed to inorganic gelation, resulting in a strongly pseudo‐plastic rheology that preserves template alignment against the influence of Brownian motion. The in situ formation of fine α‐Al₂O₃ matrix after transformation in the seeded boehmite system results in a higher driving force for TGG and improves texture development. The combination of 3 μm templates with a seeded boehmite matrix results in extremely high texture qualities (texture fraction f = 0.97–0.99, r = 0.17) while maintaining a relatively fine grain size (5–10 μm in diameter and 1.5–3 μm in thickness). Although undoped samples can be fully textured at 1600°C, adding as little as ~0.25 wt% CaO/SiO₂ dopant improves TGG kinetics and yields full texture at 1400°C.     

Anisotropy on SrTiO3 templated textured PMN–PT monolithic ceramics

In this work, templated grain growth (TGG) and reactive templated grain growth (RTGG) texture techniques combined with uniaxial hot pressing were used for the first time to produce high dense monolithic textured 0.6PMN–0.4PT ceramics. Microstructural analysis of the textured ceramics showed that both TGG and RTGG texture methods are efficient to promote anisotropic grain nucleation around the SrTiO₃ single crystal templates. The structural data remarkably revealed that although there was no previous reaction of the powder to form the lead magnesium niobate–lead titanate (PMN–PT) compound in the RTGG samples and the ceramic phase formation was 100% perovskite indicating that RTGG texture technique is more attractive than TGG in the case of SrTiO₃ templated PMN–PT. Rather, dielectric characterizations performed in the RTGG samples parallel and perpendicular to the template axis revealed a high anisotropy in the electrical permittivity for RTGG samples (1.48) that were comparable to an estimated value for 0.62PMN–0.38PT single crystals. Piezoelectric characterization of RTGG samples resulted in strain levels up to 0.34% and the highest d₃₃ coefficient was 1100 pC/N, which showed significant increase compared to random ceramic.     

Templated Grain Growth of Textured Bismuth Titanate

Textured bismuth titanate, Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ (BiT), was produced by templated grain growth (TGG). Molten-salt-synthesized BiT platelets were dispersed in a matrix of 200 nm BiT powder and aligned by tape casting. Highly textured BiT was obtained with the use of only 5 vol% template particles by sintering at 1000°C for 1 h. The uniformity of the through-thickness texture is much higher than reported in the literature for BiT tapes cast with 100% platelets. Initial platelet alignment is shown to increase because of frequent interaction with the fine powder particles during tape casting. By avoiding pressure densification techniques and using only a small portion of anisometric particles, TGG is a low-cost option for fabricating textured ceramics.     

Bounds To Texture Components In Superposed Crystallographic Textures

Crystallographic texture generates anisotropy that is essential to many advanced ceramic applications. For microstructures where texture components have resulted from unique material processes, the measured texture is a superposition of these independent texture components, making it difficult to characterize these unique processes independently. For superposed crystallographic textures comprised of both a random and a textured component, the volume fraction bounds of the randomly oriented texture component can be determined from the minimum value of the superposed orientation distribution function (ODF). In such textures, the maximum pole density of the textured component ODF is shown to be a function of the minimum and maximum values of the superposed ODF. An illustration of the formalism is given for a textured bismuth titanate ceramic.     

织构型钙钛矿铁电材料的研究进展

简要介绍了压电铁电材料的种类及发展历程,重点比较了压电陶瓷和压电单晶在性能和制备中的差异,提出了制备织构型压电陶瓷的必要性.以钙钛矿型PMN-PT压电陶瓷为例,提出了产生织构结构的简便有效的方法-模板晶粒生长法(TGG法);同时具体分析了制备PMN-PT粉体、模板粒子的常用方法以及使模板产生定排列的方法.论述了目前已经取得的一些成果,提出了该体系织构材料今后的发展方向和应用前景.     

The correlation between porosity characteristics and the crystallographic texture in extruded stabilized aluminium titanate for diesel particulate filter applications

Porous ceramic diesel particulate filters (DPFs) are extruded products that possess macroscopic anisotropic mechanical and thermal properties. This anisotropy is caused by both morphological features (mostly the orientation of porosity) and crystallographic texture. We systematically studied those two aspects in two aluminum titanate ceramic materials of different porosity using mercury porosimetry, gas adsorption, electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray refraction radiography. We found that a lower porosity content implies a larger isotropy of both the crystal texture and the porosity orientation. We also found that, analogous to cordierite, crystallites do align with their axis of negative thermal expansion along the extrusion direction. However, unlike what found for cordierite, the aluminium titanate crystallite form is such that a more pronounced (0 0 2) texture along the extrusion direction implies porosity aligned perpendicular to it.     

Fracture Resistance of Highly Textured Alumina

Textured alumina has been fabricated previously by either hot-deformation processing, to produce moderate texture, or templating with aligned platelets, to produce stronger texture. Fracture-toughness measurements on ceramics fabricated by hot deformation have indicated only a modest improvement in toughness compared with that of untextured ceramics, while measurements on more strongly textured ceramics have been very limited. In this work, a simplified process for fabricating highly textured alumina was developed, using a solvent-based slurry, tape casting, and liquid-phase sintering. Grain size was tailored to maximize the likelihood of grain bridging and crack deflection. Image analysis was used to characterize morphologic texture, and X-ray pole-figure analysis was used to measure crystallographic texture. Fracture tests revealed significant changes to the crack path as a result of the texture. However, the apparent fracture resistances measured using single-edge notched-beam samples were similar for textured and untextured ceramics. The lack of apparent toughening resulting from texturing is discussed in light of previous results.     

A quasi-linear piezoelectric strain behavior of [001] textured rhombohedral PMN–24%PT ceramic

Highly textured (1–x)Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-xPbTiO₃ (PMN–xPT) piezoelectric ceramics were fabricated. It was found that [001] textured rhombohedral PMN–24%PT ceramic exhibited a quasi-linear piezoelectric strain behavior with low hysteresis. The strain hysteresis of PMN–24%PT ceramic was reduced from 22.5% to 9% at 30 kV/cm using the texture method. Accurate displacement was generated by DC field using textured PMN–24%PT ceramic. The domain configurations in textured PMN–xPT ceramics were figured out using the chemical etching method. It was demonstrated that the quasi-linear and low-hysteretic strain behavior was due to a fixed domain configuration. We predict that the textured PMN–24%PT ceramic will facilitate the development of low-voltage driving piezoelectric actuators with high precision.     

Processing of dense bioinspired ceramics with deliberate microstructure

The architectures of biological hard materials reveal finely tailored complex assemblies of mineral crystals. Numerous recent studies associate the design of these local assemblies with impressive macroscopic response. Reproducing such exquisite control in technical ceramics conflicts with commonly used processing methods. Here, we circumvent this issue by combining the recently developed Magnetically Assisted Slip Casting (MASC) technique with the well-established process of templated grain growth (TGG). MASC enables the local control over the orientation of platelets dispersed among smaller isotropic particles. After a high-temperature pressureless heat treatment, the grains of the final ceramic follow the same orientation as of the initial platelets. This combination allows us to produce 95% dense alumina part with a grain orientation following any deliberate orientation. We successfully fabricated microstructures inspired from biological materials with ceramics that present periodically varying patterns with a programmable pitch down to a few tens of micrometers. The periodically textured dense ceramics exhibit matching variation of local hardness, confirming the capacity of the process to tailor local properties. This unique micrometer scale control over the local mechanical properties could be applied to adapt ceramic structures to complex loads using this inexpensive and scalable process. In systems where functional properties also depend on anisotropic grain orientation, the principle presented here could enable the creation of new multifunctional ceramics.     

Enhanced power factor of textured Al‐doped‐ZnO ceramics by field‐assisted deforming

Field‐assisted deforming method has been used to prepare c‐axis textured Al‐doped‐ZnO Ceramics (AZO) ceramics. In such cases, AZO ceramics with different degree of texture can be controlled efficiently. As a consequence, the electrical conductivity has been significantly enhanced for AZO ceramic with high degree of texture. The electrical conductivity for highly textured AZO is as high as 29.5 S·m^?1, 6 times higher than random orientation AZO ceramics. The enhanced electrical conductivity leads to a higher power factor of 5.3×10^?4 W·m^?1·K^?2 at 750 K, a 60.6% improvement over the random orientation AZO ceramic.     

Crystallographically textured Ba0.8La0.2Fe11.8-xCu0.2O19-δ hexaferrites with narrow FMR linewidth

M-type hexaferrites which exhibit strong uniaxial anisotropy field, are promising for the applications in self-biased microwave and millimeter wave (MMW) devices. Here we demonstrate crystallographically textured hexaferrites with narrow ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) linewidth synthesized by the conventional ceramic method. Meanwhile, the relationship between iron-deficiency content and microstructure, crystallographic, and magnetic properties are researched. These hexaferrites have strong remanence ratio of above 0.9 along c-axis. By fitting of Lorentzian function to absorption derivative, we probe detailedly into the zero-field FMR linewidth of Ba_0.8La_0.2Fe_11.8-xCu_0.2O_19-δ hexaferrites. When x equals 1.0, it indicates the narrowest FMR linewidth of 324Oe, as compared with previous reports for crystallographically textured hexaferrites.     

A Novel Hot Pressing Flowing Sintering for Preparation of Texturing Ceramics

In this paper, we proposed a novel hot‐pressing flowing sintering (HPFS) for texturing ceramics. The perfectly two‐dimensional textured Si₃N₄ ceramics were fabricated by HPFS. The Lotgering orientation factor f_L for Si₃N₄ texture was 0.9975. During earlier sintering stage, the specimen flowed along the plane which perpendicular to the hot‐pressing direction under pressure, through the controlling of the graphite die movement. The rod‐like β‐Si₃N₄ nuclei was easily to texture during the flowing process, due to the small size of the β‐Si₃N₄ nuclei and the high porosity of the flowing specimen. As a result, the perfectly two‐dimensional textured Si₃N₄ was obtained. After aligned, the β‐Si₃N₄ grains grew along the materials flowing direction with little constraint, which accelerated the growth of the grains extensively. So, in addition to texture, the Si₃N₄ ceramics by HPFS also showed high aspect ratio. The present study indicated that the HPFS would be more simple and low‐cost method for texture of Si₃N₄, compared with conventional hot‐forging which contained the sintering and forging.     

Direct writing of textured ceramics using anisotropic nozzles

Direct writing is a unique means to align anisotropic particles for the fabrication of textured ceramics by templated grain growth (TGG). We show that alignment of tabular barium titanate (BT) template particles (20–40 μm width and 0.5–2 μm thickness) in a PIN-PMN-PT matrix powder (d₅₀ = 280 nm) is significantly improved during direct writing using anisotropic nozzles at high printing rates. The particle orientation distribution in as-printed filaments, and the texture orientation distribution in sintered ceramic filaments are shown to directly correlate with COMSOL Multiphysics-predicted torque distributions for direct writing with aspect ratio 2, 3 and 5 oval nozzles. Electromechanical strain properties of the textured piezoelectric ceramics significantly improved relative to random ceramics when printed with anisotropic nozzles. Simulations of aspect ratio 20 nozzles and nozzles with interior baffles demonstrate significantly increased torque and near elimination of constant shear stress cores (i.e. plug flow).     

Forming Textured Microstructures via the Gelcasting Technique

Crystallographically textured samples of iron titanate were produced by gelcasting in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Texture was assessed by measuring X-ray pole figures on samples that were cast in different orientations relative to the applied field. Specimens in this study exhibit fiber-type texture, with the b -axes aligned parallel to the applied field. Peak texture strengths were on the order of 3 and 48 multiples of a random distribution (MRD) when processed in a 3.2 and 8.4 T magnetic field, respectively. This study shows that a combination of gelcasting with magnetic-field-assisted processing provides a convenient method for fabricating samples which can be used to study the role of crystallographic texture on the physical properties of polycrystalline ceramics, e.g., their elastic or fracture behavior.     

Preparation of 1 1 1-textured BaTiO3 ceramics by templated grain growth method using novel template particles

Dense BaTiO₃ ceramics with 1 1 1-texture were prepared by the TGG process. Platelike BaTiO₃ particles with their 1 1 1 direction perpendicular to the plate face were prepared by the reaction of platelike Ba₆Ti₁₇O₄₀ particles with BaCO₃ particles in molten NaCl. A green compact was composed of the aligned, platelike BaTiO₃ template particles dispersed in the matrix of small, equiaxed BaTiO₃ particles. Sintering caused densification and also the growth of template particles at the expense of matrix particles, resulting in texture development. Densification prior to grain growth was found to be necessary to obtain highly textured ceramics, and the effect of pre-sintering conditions on texture development was examined.     

Ultrafast high-temperature sintering of dense and textured alumina

Crystallographic texture engineering in ceramics is essential to achieve direction-specific properties. Current texture engineering methods are time-consuming, energy extensive, or can lead to unnecessary diffusion of added dopants. Herein, we explore ultrafast high-temperature sintering (UHS) to prepare dense and textured alumina using templated grain growth (TGG). From a slurry containing alumina microplatelets coated with Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles dispersed in a matrix of alumina nanoparticles, green bodies with oriented microplatelets were prepared using magnetic assisted slip casting (MASC). The effects of the sintering temperature, time and heating rate on the density and microstructure of the obtained ceramics were then studied. We found that TGG occurs for a temperature range between 1640 and 1780 °C and 10 s sintering time. Sintering at 1700 °C for 10 s led to dense and textured alumina with anisotropic grains thanks to the Fe₃O₄ coating, which did not have the time to diffuse. The highest texture and relative density were obtained with a heating rate of ~5500 °C/min, leading to texture-dependent anisotropic mechanical properties. This study opens new avenues for fabricating textured ceramics in ultra-short times.