Barium titanate , electrical

Alkaline-Earth Titanates. Some physical properties of representative alkaline-earth titanates ate Hsted in Table 15. The most important apphcations of these titanates are in the manufacture of electronic components (109). The most important member of the class is barium titanate, BaTi03, which owes its significance to its exceptionally high dielectric constant and its piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties. Further, because barium titanate easily forms solid solutions with strontium titanate, lead titanate, zirconium oxide, and tin oxide, the electrical properties can be modified within wide limits. Barium titanate may be made by, eg, cocalcination of barium carbonate and titanium dioxide at ca 1200°C. With the exception of Ba2Ti04, barium orthotitanate, titanates do not contain discrete TiO ions but ate mixed oxides. Ba2Ti04 has the P-K SO stmcture in which distorted tetrahedral TiO ions occur. 

Barium titanate [12047-27-7] has five crystaUine modifications. Of these, the tetragonal form is the most important. The stmcture is based on corner-linked oxygen octahedra, within which are located the Ti" " ions. These can be moved from their central positions either spontaneously or in an apphed electric field. Each TiO octahedron may then be regarded as an electric dipole. If dipoles within a local region, ie, a domain, are oriented parallel to one another and the orientation of all the dipoles within a domain can be changed by the appHcation of an electric field, the material is said to be ferroelectric. At ca 130°C, the Curie temperature, the barium titanate stmcture changes to cubic. The dipoles now behave independentiy, and the material is paraelectric (see Ferroelectrics). 

Barium titanate has widespread use ia the electronics iadustry. Its high dielectric constant and the ease with which its electrical properties can be modified by combination with other materials make it exceptionally suitable for a variety of items, ie, miniature capacitors (see Ceramics as electrical materials). 

The contribution to the stress from electromechanical coupling is readily estimated from the constitutive relation [Eq. (4.2)]. Under conditions of uniaxial strain and field, and for an open circuit, we find that the elastic stiffness is increased by the multiplying factor (1 -i- K ) where the square of the electromechanical coupling factor for uniaxial strain, is a measure of the stiffening effect of the electric field. Values of for various materials are for x-cut quartz, 0.0008, for z-cut lithium niobate, 0.055 for y-cut lithium niobate, 0.074 for barium titanate ceramic, 0.5 and for PZT-5H ceramic, 0.75. These examples show that electromechanical coupling effects can be expected to vary from barely detectable to quite substantial. 

Since discovering and making use of the piezoelectric effect in naturally occurring crystals such as quartz and Rochelle salts, scientists have produced a wide range of piezoelectric materials in the laboratoi y. An early example is barium titanate, used in an electrical component called a capacitor. Currently, most piezoelectric materials are oxide materials based on lead oxide, zirconate oxide, and titanium. These very hard piezoelectric materials are termed piezoceramics. 

Titanium forms a series of oxoanions called titanates, which are prepared by heating Ti02 with a stoichiometric amount of the oxide or carbonate of a second metal. One of these compounds, barium titanate, BaTi03, is piezoelectric, which means that it becomes electrically charged when it is mechanically distorted. The ability to convert mechanical vibration into an electrical signal makes barium titanate useful for underwater sound detection. 

Positive temperature coefficient (PCT) thermistors are solids, usually consisting of barium titanate, BaTiOi, in which the electrical resistivity increases dramatically with temperature over a narrow range of temperatures (Fig. 3.38). These devices are used for protection against power, current, and thermal overloads. When turned on, the thermistor has a low resitivity that allows a high current to flow. This in turn heats the thermistor, and if the temperature rise is sufficiently high, the device switches abruptly to the high resisitvity state, which effectively switches off the current flow. 

A wide array of ferroelectric, piezoelectric and pyroelectric materials have titanium, zirconium and zinc metal cations as part of their elemental composition Many electrical materials based on titanium oxide (titanates) and zirconium oxide (zirconates) are known to have structures based on perovskite-type oxide lattices Barium titanate, BaTiOs and a diverse compositional range of PZT materials (lead zirconate titanates, Pb Zr Tij-yOs) and PLZT materials (lead lanthanum zirconate titanates, PbxLai-xZryTii-yOs) are among these perovskite-type electrical materials. 

Barium titanate, BaTi03, finds application as a ceramic material,3 and is primarily of interest as a result of its electrical properties (see Chapter 60). 

New battery developments include the ultracapacitor hybrid barium titan-ate powder design (EEStors). These devices can absorb and release charges much faster than electrochemical batteries. They weigh less, and some projections suggest that in electric cars they might provide 500 mi of travel at a cost of 9 in electricity. But these are only the projections of researchers. 

Seuter, A.M.J.H. (1974) Defect chemistry and electrical transport properties of barium titanate. Philips Research Reports, Supplement No. 3. 

Daniels, J., Hardtl, K.H., Hennings, D. and Wernicke, R. (1976) Defect chemistry and electrical conductivity of doped barium titanate ceramics. Philips Research Reports 31, 487-559. 

The dielectric characteristics of barium titanate ceramics with respect to temperature, electric field strength, frequency and time (ageing) are very dependent on the substitution of minor amounts of other ions for Ba or Ti. 

Barium titanate crystals rank high among those solids on which electronic research has been focused during the last two decades, because this compound and its derivatives belong to a promising group of ferroelectrics. The properties of single crystals of BaTiOs reveal that the crystals are not uniform they respond to an electrical field as if they have a skin which covers the bulk of the crystal. 

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