Structure and properties of piezoelectric strontium fresnoite glass-ceramics belonging to the sr–ti–si–al–k–o system

Abstract

Crystallization of strontium fresnoite Sr2 TiSi2 O8 piezoelectric crystals in Sr–Ti–Si–K–Al–O parent glasses is investigated with the aim of showing the influence of composition and crystallization conditions on the microstructure and piezoelectric properties of the resulting glass-ceramic. All the investigated conditions lead to a surface crystallization mechanism that induces a preferential orientation of crystal growth in the glasses. Near the surface, all the glass-ceramics obtained exhibit (002) planes preferentially oriented parallel to their faces. Deeper in the specimens, this preferential orientation is either kept or tilted to (201) after a depth of about 300 µm. The measurement of the charge coefficient d33 of the glass-ceramic highlights that surface crystallization induces mirror symmetry in the polarization. It reaches 11 to 12 pC/N and is not significantly influenced by the preferential orientation (002) or (201). High temperature XRD shows the stability of the fresnoite phase in the glass-ceramics up to 1000◦ C. Mechanical characterization of the glass-ceramics by impulse excitation technique (IET) highlights that the softening of the residual glass leads to a progressive decrease of Young’s modulus in the temperature range 600–800◦ C. Damping associated to the viscoplastic transition become severe only over 800◦ C.