Siansonic Technology Ltd.
Siansonic Technology Ltd.

An Analysis of High-temperature Piezoelectric Ceramic Materials

Piezoelectric ceramics have piezoelectric effect. As a new functional material, high-temperature piezoelectric ceramics are widely used in many special fields such as aviation and aerospace, nuclear energy, metallurgy, petrochemical, and geological exploration.


High-temperature piezoelectric ceramics include four major categories: alkali metal niobate, tungsten bronze structure, perovskite structure, and bismuth layered structure. Its Curie temperature is generally below 900℃, far from meeting the special needs of ultra-high temperature fields such as aerospace. Therefore, the study of ultra-high temperature piezoelectric ceramics is particularly important.


Ultra-high temperature piezoelectric ceramics refer to a type of material with a Curie temperature higher than 900℃. Currently, research on high-performance and ultrahigh Curie temperature (TC) piezoelectric ceramic material systems is being conducted domestically and internationally, and the development of piezoelectric ceramic materials with ultrahigh Curie temperature and good stability has become one of the current research hotspots.


Perovskite structure high-temperature piezoelectric ceramic materials


Modified lead titanate piezoelectric ceramics


Pure lead titanate has a cubic perovskite structure at room temperature, with a small dielectric constant, high piezoelectric performance, large piezoelectric anisotropy, and high Curie temperature (TC=490℃), making it suitable for use at high temperatures. However, pure lead titanate ceramics are difficult to sinter. When the crystals cool through the Curie point, they are prone to cracking under internal stress; their large axial ratio makes their coercive field large, making polarization difficult. Therefore, many researchers use the method of doping to form a eutectic to solve this problem and have achieved good research results.


PZT-based multicomponent system piezoelectric ceramics


Because of its excellent piezoelectric properties, Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 (PZT) piezoelectric ceramics are one of the most widely used and successful piezoelectric ceramic materials and have been widely used in the manufacture of piezoelectric actuators, sensors, filters, micrometers, piezoelectric gyroscopes, and other electronic components.


Tungsten bronze structured high-temperature piezoelectric ceramics


Tungsten bronze structured piezoelectric ceramics have characteristics such as large spontaneous polarization, high Curie temperature, low piezoelectric dielectric constant, and large optical nonlinearity, making them a very promising electro-optical crystal material.


Bismuth layered structure high-temperature piezoelectric ceramics


Bismuth layered structure ferroelectric materials (BLSF) are a very promising lead-free high-temperature piezoelectric ceramic material. Its chemical formula is (Bi2O2)2+ - (Am-1BmO3m+1) 2-. Compared with lead zirconate titanate ceramics, BLSF has low dielectric constant, sintering temperature, and aging rate, high resistivity, significant mechanical coupling coefficient anisotropy, high Curie temperature (TC>500°C), good time and temperature stability of resonance frequency, etc. Therefore, this type of material is particularly suitable for making filters and piezoelectric devices in the high-temperature high-frequency field.


The application of high-temperature piezoelectric ceramics has a very broad prospect, and it is also a research hotspot both domestically and internationally. As a high-temperature piezoelectric ceramic material, it must not undergo structural phase changes at higher temperatures that affect its piezoelectric properties, and its various performance parameters must have excellent high-temperature characteristics to remain stable and reliable when working at high temperatures for a long time. At the same time, with the trend of miniaturization and integration of electronic components, high-temperature piezoelectric thin film materials will also become a research hotspot in the future.