Innovative Production of PYbN-PT Piezoelectric Single Crystals

The objective of the proposed Phase I SBIR program is to greatly improve the performance of piezoelectric ceramics by combining recent new material discoveries with intelligent processing. Specifically high Curie temperature (Tc) Pb(Yb1/2Nb1/2)O3-PbTiO3(PYbN-PT) ferroelectrics will be fabricated into textured ceramics and bulk single crystals using templated grain growth (TGG) and templated crystal growth (TCG), respectively. This will yield piezoelectrics with extremely broad operating temperaturesranges and properties comparable to conventionally grown lower Tc single crystal materials. This will be a revolutionary advance in piezoelectric materials manufacturing, and would be an enabling material for a broad range of applications including highlysensitive vibration sensors, 2-dimensional medical ultrasound phased arrays, and high performance actuators for smart structures applications. At the conclusion of the Phase I SBIR program we expect to have produced either single crystals or texturedceramics of piezoelectric Pb(Yb1/2Nb1/2)O3-PbTiO3 by combining recent new material discoveries with intelligent processing. These materials will exhibit broad operating temperatures ranges and properties comparable to conventionally grown lower Tc singlecrystal materials. This will help advance piezoelectric materials manufacturing technology and to enable the fabrication of material for a broad range of applications including highly sensitive vibration sensors, 2-dimensional medical ultrasound phasedarrays, and high performance actuators for smart structures applications. The resulting PYbN-PT textured and converted ceramics will exhibit piezoelectric performance surpassing that of existing materials.