Pb ( Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 ) O 3 – PbTiO 3 Textured Ceramics with High Piezoelectric Response by a Novel Templated Grain Growth Approach

Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –PbTiO 3 is used as a model system of perovskite solid solutions with very high piezoelectric response at tailored morphotropic phase boundaries to demonstrate the processing of textured ceramics by ceramic‐only technology. A novel homogeneous templated grain growth approach that uses conventional ceramic procedures and a single‐source nanocrystalline powder for the matrix and also for obtaining the templates is described. Two batches of (100) faceted cube‐shaped microcrystals with average sizes of 27 and 10 μm were successfully used as templates, and aligned by tape casting for the processing of ‐textured Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –PbTiO 3 piezoelectric ceramics. Materials with effective piezoelectric coefficients up to 1000 pC/N and ferroelectric properties approaching those of single crystals are obtained.