Anisotropy on SrTiO3 templated textured PMN–PT monolithic ceramics

In this work, templated grain growth (TGG) and reactive templated grain growth (RTGG) texture techniques combined with uniaxial hot pressing were used for the first time to produce high dense monolithic textured 0.6PMN–0.4PT ceramics. Microstructural analysis of the textured ceramics showed that both TGG and RTGG texture methods are efficient to promote anisotropic grain nucleation around the SrTiO3 single crystal templates. The structural data remarkably revealed that although there was no previous reaction of the powder to form the lead magnesium niobate–lead titanate (PMN–PT) compound in the RTGG samples and the ceramic phase formation was 100% perovskite indicating that RTGG texture technique is more attractive than TGG in the case of SrTiO3 templated PMN–PT. Rather, dielectric characterizations performed in the RTGG samples parallel and perpendicular to the template axis revealed a high anisotropy in the electrical permittivity for RTGG samples (1.48) that were comparable to an estimated value for 0.62PMN–0.38PT single crystals. Piezoelectric characterization of RTGG samples resulted in strain levels up to 0.34% and the highest d33 coefficient was 1100 pC/N, which showed significant increase compared to random ceramic.