The electrical properties of low-temperature sintered 0.07Pb(Sb1/2Nb1/2)O3-0.93Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3 multilayer piezoceramic actuator

Abstract 0.07Pb(Sb1/2Nb1/2)O3-0.93Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3 (PSbN-PZT) piezoceramics were fabricated at a low firing temperature of 920 °C using the LiBiO2, CuO and ZnO (LBCZ) sintering aids. The material samples exhibited excellent properties, including a converse piezoelectric coefficient d33* of ∼558 pm/V, a relative dielectric permittivity eT33/e0 of ∼1725, a planar coupling factor kp of ∼0.6 and a high Curie temperature Tc of ∼308 °C, thus demonstrating the material’s suitability for use as a low-cost multilayer actuator ceramic. PSbN-PZT piezoceramic multilayer actuators with Ag/Pd internal electrodes were fabricated by tape casting method cofired at 920 °C. A large displacement of 1.45 μm was achieved in a single PSbN-PZT multilayer actuator (thickness=2.0 mm) at the driving voltage of 125 V, while the displacement decreased ∼27% under the mechanical stress of ∼32 MPa. Good temperature stability was also exhibited in PSbN-PZT multilayer actuator, which was better than that of commercial PZT-5H ceramic. These results indicated that low-temperature fired PSbN-PZT multilayer actuator is a promising candidate device for commercial piezoactuator applications.