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WOS: 000364257600011, The templated grain growth technique was used to synthesise textured 60BiFeO(3)-40PbTiO(3) (60:40BFPT). Both Aurivillius (Bi4Ti3O12, PbBi4Ti4O15) and perovskite templates (BaTiO3, SrTiO3) were used to prepare 60:40BFPT. Only BaTiO3 templates were found to successful impart a texture to the ceramic matrix. In the case of perovskite templates, ferroelectricity was evident from saturated polarisation hysteresis loops. Saturated polarisation loops were achieved due to the substitution of Ba2+ or Sr2+, which reduces the coercive field. SrTiO3 and BaTiO3 templated ceramics showed remanent polarisation of 30 and 36 mu C/cm(2), respectively. Aurivillius templates did not generate ferroelectric materials. Because of their high chemical stability in this system, BaTiO3 templates appear to be the best candidate for fabricating textured BFPT by the reactive templated grain growth method

The solid solution between bismuth ferrite and lead titanate (xBiFeO 3 -(1−x)PbTiO 3 or BFPT) possesses a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) between the rhombohedral and tetragonal forms at x=0.7. It is of interest to investigate the influence of field-driven rhombohedral-tetragonal phase transitions across the MPB, to determine whether correctly oriented BFPT can provide both giant piezoelectric properties and significant magnetoelectric coupling. Here, we used the reactive templated grain growth (RTGG) technique to prepare crystallographically textured 0.6BiFeO 3 -0.4PbTiO 3 (60:40 BFPT) ceramics. Both Aurivillius structure templates (Bi 4 Ti 3 O 12 and PbBi 4 Ti 4 O 15 ) and perovskite templates (BaTiO 3 and SrTiO 3 ) were used to prepare textured 60:40BFPT. Synchrotron radiation experiments were used to determine the degree of texture. A current data suggests that only BaTiO 3 templates survive the sintering process, and other candidate template materials reacted with the 60:40BFPT matrix at high temperature. In the case of SrTiO 3 , this reaction results in a low Curie temperature (T c = 350 °C) due to the substitution of Sr2+. Aurivillius templates resulted in high Curie temperatures (610 °C) and may be chemically suitable if they could be stabilized during the sintering process. However, the resulting ceramics show low remanent polarization (P r = 3 μc/cm2), while SrTiO 3 and BaTiO 3 templated ceramics show higher remanent polarizations of 36 and 30 μc/cm2, respectively. Because of their high chemical stability in this system, BaTiO 3 templates appear to be the best candidate for fabricating textured BFPT by the TGG method, displaying a high degree of crystallographic texture.