Fast-firing of potassium sodium niobate (KNN)

Potassium sodium niobate (KNN) is one of the most promising Pb-free piezo-ceramics. In the present work, KNN was produced by fast-firing with different cooling strategies, i.e., fast and slow cooling. Dielectric, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric properties of fast-fired pellets were determined and compared with those of conventional-sintered products. Although the samples produced by fast-firing had higher density than those obtained by conventional sintering, fast-cooled samples following fast firing show relatively low electrical properties. When fast-firing was combined with slow cooling, the electrical properties, especially piezoelectric d33 values, were improved. The material subjected to fast-firing at 1120 °C using slow cooling gave the highest relative density (about 95 %) with fine grains microstructure and a d33 of 112 pC/N whereas that produced by conventional sintering resulted in d33 of 80 pC/N with a relative density of 88 % for the same dwell time (30 min).