Fabrication and Microstructure of Grain-Oriented (Bi_1/2K_1/2)TiO₃ Ceramics

Grain-oriented (Bi1/2K1/2)TiO3 (BKT) ceramics were prepared by the reactive templated grain growth (RTGG) method, and a hot-pressing (HP) method was modified on the basis of the RTGG method to obtain dense ceramics. The BKT ceramic sintered at 1060ºC showed a single-phase perovskite structure. The grain-oriented BKT prepared by the HP method exhibited a relatively high orientation factor F of 0.82 and a high density ratio of 99%. SEM micrographs of the HP-grain-oriented BKT indicated a textured and poreless microstructure. On the basis of the density ratio of 87% for the grain-oriented BKT without HP, the HP method was considered very effective for improving the density ratio even for the RTGG sample. In addition, the resistivity of the HP-grain-oriented BKT was 1.73 x 1013 •cm.