Dielectric and piezoelectric properties of high Curie temperature single crystals in the Pb(Yb1/2Nb1/2)O3-xPbTiO3 solid solution series

Piezoelectric single crystals in the (1-x)Pb(Yb1/2Nb1/2)O-3-xPbTiO(3) (PYN-xPT) solid solution series were grown by a conventional high temperature solution method using PbO flux. The Curie temperature for compositions grown near the morphotropic phase boundary (x = 0.5) was in the range from 300 to 400degreesC due to compositional variations and the addition of 1 mol% Ba2+, added for perovskite stability. With increasing PT content, the dielectric properties continuously changed from relaxor to normal ferroelectric behavior in the range of 0.2 < x < 0.8. The coercive field (E-c) for rhombohedral crystals near the MPB was 10-15kV/cm, increasing to 20kV/cm for the tetragonal crystals. The remnant polarization (P-r) also increased with the increasing of PT content fro 0.9 muC/cm(2) (x = 0.2) to 42 muC/cm(2) (x = 0.53). The piezoelectric coefficient (d(33)) of PYN-xPT single crystals increased with increasing PT content in the rhombohedral phase, being similar to2500 pC/N near the MPB composition (x = 0.46), and decreasing to similar to1200 pC/N for the tetragonal phase crystals. These excellent piezoelectric properties together with the high Curie temperature make PYN-xPT single crystals promising candidates for the applications of high temperature and high performance actuators and transducers.