Effect of sintering temperature of KNN lead free piezoelectric ceramic.

Ka_0.5Na_0.5NbO₃ lead free piezoelectric ceramic abbreviated as KNN has been prepared via solid state reaction method. This study focused on effect of different sintering temperatures on crystal structure as well as piezoelectric constant, d₃₃ properties. Three different temperatures i.e 1000 °C, 1100 °C and 1200 °C were applied for sintering process and continued with poling treatment at 4.0 kV/cm DC voltage for d₃₃ measurement. The XRD spectrum profile confirmed that all samples maintain as single phase KNN with monoclinic structure. Close observation demonstrated that higher sintering temperature decrease the volume of unit cell. Higher sintering temperature also promoted denser sample. However, highest sintering temperature (1200 °C) decrease the d₃₃ value (63 pCN⁻¹). The optimized d₃₃ value i.e 104 pC/N was shown by sample with sintering temperature of 1100 °C. This study proved that appropriate sintering temperature affect the density and crystal structure formation simultaneously influenced the piezoelectric performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]