Abstract
Multi-layer lamination is an industrial manufacturing method for flat ceramic components with internal electrodes. By having thin ceramic layers separated by planar electrodes, the driving voltage is reduced compared to bulk ceramics, which simplifies the electronic circuitry driving the transducer. This process, first developed to manufacture ceramic capacitors, has also become popular to produce piezoelectric actuators and transducers. As a lead-free alternative to state-of-the-art PZT piezoelectric multi-layers, we have studied the fabrication process of multi-layer elements of bismuth sodium titanate in solid solution with 6% barium titanate, 0.94Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.06BaTiO3 (BNT-6BT), with internal Pt electrodes. This material was chosen since it is a well-established lead-free piezoelectric, already reported by Takenaka in 1991.