Piezoelectric Properties of Porous Potassium Niobate System Ceramics

Porous potassium niobate (KNbO 3 , KN) system ceramics were prepared by a conventional sintering method using carbon black (CB) nanoparticles. First, KN nanoparticles with a size of 100 nm was mixed with CB nanoparticles and binder using ball milling with ethanol. The mixture was dried, and pressed into pellets using uniaxial pressing. After binder burnout, these ceramics was sintered in air. Their piezoelectric properties were measured and discussed a relationship between porosity and piezoelectric properties. As the results, with increasing porosity, piezoelectric g 33 constant increased significantly, which suggested that porous ceramics were effective for stress sensor application.