Graduate Student, Institute for Materials Research
PhD Researcher
Thesis Title: Development of high temperature lead-free piezoelectric ceramics
|
Dr Tim Comyn
|
About
The research project aims to fabricate and characterise new lead-free materials based upon potassium bismuth titanate-bismuth ferrite (KBT-BF). The industry leading material is lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and there are growing environmental concerns with regard to this material due to the toxicity of lead. As a result of these environmental concerns and increasing environmental legislation, there is now a significant need to develop alternative lead-free materials.
Much research has been based upon Bismuth Ferrite due to its high temperature stability but little research has been focussed upon Potassium Bismuth Titanate due to its difficulty in fabricating dense samples. However, it is hoped that by combining the properties of the two materials, this will lead to a system that is comparable to PZT with respect to high temperature stability and its electrical properties.
The electrical properties of the (1-x)BiFeO3-x(Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3 system should be much improved if a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) can be discovered and the goal of this project is to investigate the structural and electrical characteristics of the material around this region. The processing will be refined and improved in order to obtain the best ceramics and a wide range of electrical characterisation techniques will be employed. Analysis will also be carried out using XRD, SEM, PFM and TEM techniques.
Contact Information
| Address: | Insitute for Materials Research |
