Electric field induced antiferroelectric to ferroelectric phase transition of Pb(Zr, Sn, Ti)O3 ceramics and tailoring of properties through composition modification

In order to obtain a new kind of antiferroelectric (AFEt) ceramics with lower AFEt-Ferroelectric (FER) switching field Ef and less hysterisis loss ΔE for application of large displacement actuator, Ba2+ ionics was employed to control the relative stability between AFEt, FER, and parroelelctrics (PEc) phases in (Pb0.97-xBaxLa0.02) (Zr0.55Sn0.35Ti0.1)O3(0 [less-than or equal to] x [less-than or equal to] 0.2) system. Structural changes and electric properties as a function of Barium content x have been investigated by X-Ray diffraction, dielectric properties, polarization and longitudinal strain measurement. It is observed that AFEt changes to FER, and finally to ferroelectric relaxors(RFE) as Ba content x increases from zero to 0.2. Based upon these expermental result, we are able to tailor the AFE-FE switching parameters such as Ef, ΔE and AFEt operating temperature range AT through modifying the Ti/Sn ratio near AFEt/FER phase boundary in the (Pb0.87Ba0.1La0.02) (Zr0.6Tiy Sn0.4-y)O3(0.04 [less-than or equal to] y [less-than or equal to] 0.09) system. Finally, a new kind of AFEt ceramics with Ef = 1.6 kV/mm, ΔE = 0.8.5 kK/ mm, and longitudinal strain x = 0.1% -0.2% which is appropriate for application of digital actuators has been obtained. Phase diagram with composition located near AFEt/FER boundary of the studied system has been determined.