A study of lead-free (K0.5N0.5)NbO3 piezoelectric ceramics processed by additive manufacturing

Abstract

Lead-free (K[Formula: see text]N[Formula: see text]NbO3 piezoelectric ceramics have drawn wide attention due to its environment-friendly and excellent piezoelectric performance. Since the difficulty of post-processing of ceramics limit its further development and practical application, three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has been developed in this work. A homogeneous piezoelectric ceramic suspension with 40 vol% modified (K[Formula: see text]N[Formula: see text]NbO3 nanoparticles can be 3D printed well based on a stereolithography process. In addition, by the post heat treatment under different sintering temperature, a density value of 4.31[Formula: see text]g[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text] with the relative density of about 96% was obtained in the sample sintered at 1120[Formula: see text]C, which results in the larger dielectric constant and lower dielectric loss in this sample. These printed ceramics exhibit two successive phase transitions and reduce with increase of sintering temperature at measured temperature range.