Articles
  • Microwave and conventional sintering of lead-free (K,Na) NbO3-based piezoelectric ceramic multilayer actuators
  • Jin-Kyu Kanga, Hyoung-Su Hana, Seong-Kyu Jeonga, Kyoung Kwan Ahnb, Soon-Jong Jeongc and Jae-Shin Leea,*
  • a School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 680-749, Republic of Korea b School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan, Republic of Korea c Advanced Materials & Application Research Laboratory, Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, Changwon, Republic of Korea
Abstract
A comparative study of microwave and conventional sintering of lead-free Li-and Ta-modified (K,Na)NbO3 (KNN) multilayer ceramic actuators (MLCAs) was completed. It was found that microwave sintering (MWS) could be successfully applied to the co-firing of KNN/AgPd MLCAs with a firing cycle that is ten times shorter and a firing temperature 150 oC lower (900 oC) than conventional furnace sintering (1050 oC) for sufficient densification. Furthermore, MWS-derived specimens showed electric field-induced strain comparable to those obtained using conventional sintering.

Keywords: Lead-free piezoceramics, Multilayer actuators, Microwave sintering, Perovskite, Alkaline niobate.

This Article

  • 2013; 14(2): 230-233

    Published on Apr 30, 2013