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Ultrasound diagnostic technology demonstrates unique clinical value in cardiovascular monitoring, precise ophthalmic diagnosis, and interventional therapy, offering advantages of high efficiency, safety, non-invasiveness, and significant cost-effectiveness. As the core component of ultrasound imaging systems, transducers’ performance directly determines the image resolution. Piezoelectric materials, essential for the acoustic-to-electric energy conversion, exhibit piezoelectric and electromechanical properties that decisively influence transducer sensitivity and bandwidth. While commercial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) ceramics offer excellent performance, the toxicity of the lead element throughout material preparation, service life, and disposal poses significant risks to human health and ecosystems.
[001]C-textured lead-free (Ba,Ca)(Zr,Ti)O3 (BCZT) ceramics were fabricated via the Template Grain Growth (TGG) method. The materials demonstrate high piezoelectricity, elevated sound velocity, and low dielectric constant, making them highly suitable for developing high-sensitivity and large-bandwidth ultrasonic transducers. However, critical limitations also persist: (1) the absence of full-matrix electromechanical properties such as dielectric constant εij, piezoelectric coefficient dij, and elastic constant sij essential for device design, and (2) the restriction of electromechanical coupling coefficient k calculations to extreme aspect ratios. The inability to accurately model k evolution at finite aspect ratios severely constrains practical applications.
To overcome such challenges, highly [00l]C-oriented textured BCZT ceramics (texture degree f00l ~ 98%) were synthesized via TGG. The complete full-matrix electromechanical property dataset was established for the first time by integrating resonance-antiresonance spectroscopy with pulse-echo ultrasonic measurements. The textured BCZT ceramics exhibit strong anisotropic Poisson’s ratios. Their piezoelectric coefficient d33 (605 pC/N) and electromechanical coupling coefficient k33 (0.73) is comparable to that of PZT-5H ceramics, while the piezoelectric voltage constant g33 (23.6× 10-3 (V/m/)Pa) is 20 % higher than that of PZT-5H.
Using the piezoelectric constitutive equations, we developed a theoretical model to predict k at arbitrary aspect ratios. Based on this developed model, the 1-3 BCZT composite transducer with high sensitivity and wide frequency band was designed and fabricated, exhibiting a center frequency of ~ 3.0 MHz. The BCZT transducer achieves an insertion loss of -33.0 dB. The -6 dB bandwidth is as high as 107.1%, which is superior to the ultrasonic transducer made of PZT-5H composite reported in literatures. This work not only provides complete electromechanical parameters for lead-free piezoelectric device applications but also lays a theoretical and technical foundation for the development of high-performance, eco-friendly ultrasonic diagnostic equipments.-
Keywords:
- Textured ceramics /
- Lead-free piezoelectrity /
- Full matrix electromechanical parameters /
- Ultrasonic transducer
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