Dielectric and electromechanical properties of barium titanate single crystals grown by templated grain growth

Single crystals of BaTiO(3) were grown by templated grain growth (TGG). TGG involves contacting a single crystal "template" to a sintered polycrystalline matrix, then heating the assemblage to a temperature that promotes the migration of the single crystal boundary through the matrix. In this investigation the properties of millimeter-sized, plate-shaped and bar-shaped, single crystals of BaTiO(3) grown by TGG were examined in order to compare the results to single crystals grown by conventional methods. A dielectric constant, epsilon(33)(T)/epsilon(0), of 260, polarizations of P(R)~16 muC/cm(2) and P(sat)~21.5 muC/cm(2), electromechanical coupling coefficients of k(33)~0.51 and k(31)~0.18, and a piezoelectric coefficient of d(33)~140 pC/N were achieved. Entrapped porosity in the crystals made fully poling the crystals difficult.