CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Background of piezoelectric ceramics

An electroded ceramic which produced through conventional ceramic procedure

from a powder processing and compacting through mould or casting which then will be

cook under high heat temperature is called piezoelectric ceramic (Levinson, 1988). The

categorization of piezoelectric ceramic comes from three main classes which are metals,

organic and inorganic which later further divided into three subcategories of ceramics,

glass and single crystal according to their macroscopic and microscopic structure

(Buchanan, 1991). The sub class categories is illustrated as shown in figure 2.1.1..

Piezoelectric materials are known to be categorized under the smart materials in which

they react to counteract the changes according to the changes of the surroundings

(Jordan & Langley, 2001).

7
 Inorganic
nonmetallic
materials

Polycrystalline
Single crystals
materials

Electronic
ceramics

Ferroelectrics

Electrooptics Piezoelectrics

Figure 2.1.1 Relationship of ceramics and electronic subclasses (Buchanan, 1991)

Ferroelectric ceramics is a ceramic which has a properties of magnetic which

characterized by high dielectric constant where each varies by piezoelectric effect,

ferroelectric hysteresis, polarization saturation, Curie temperature and electric flux

density along with direction (Sen, 1992). According to Sōmiya et al. (2003), what

distinguish electro-optics and piezoelectric is that the electro-optics for example in

barium titanate, BaTiO3 when it is above 120°C, it belongs to cubic system and it has a

centre of symmetry which did not exhibit piezoelectric effect.

8
2.1.1 Barium Titanate ( BaTiO3) material ceramic

Barium titanate ceramic is processed by chemical reaction with barium

carbonate, BaCO3 and titanate, TiO3 in temperature of ≅1100℃ (Levinson, 1988).

BaTiO3 ceramics usually operates at temperature ranges between -55℃ to 125℃ or

where the pure ceramic crystal has a major peak permittivity at ≈ 130℃ and 10℃ at the

subsequent secondary peak when corrective procedure is done on the ceramic

(Buchanan, 1991). In early years, barium titanate has the best piezoelectric properties

with better mechanically, chemically and thermal stability compare to other

piezoceramic material such as Rochelle salt(Sen, 1992). The crystal structure and polar

characteristic of BaTiO3 has high affect upon temperature exposure (Richerson, 1992).

The phase transition of BaTiO3 at different temperature is shown as the figure 2.1.1.1

below.

Figure 2.1.1.1 Phase transition of barium titanate at different temperature range.

2.1.2 Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) material ceramic

In the past, the properties of PZT ceramics had come to known to with its

capability to deliver stress signals to optical signals without any outside power supply

and this enables it to become the power supply for ECD and ELD (Xu, Akiyama,
9
Nonaka, & Watanabe, 1998). Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic is the most

commonly and commercially used ceramics from possessing excellent piezoelectric

properties (Sōmiya et al., 2003). Further explanation from Sōmiya et al. (2003), the

PZT ceramic structure able to exhibit tetragonal and rhombohedral phase through a

morphotrophic phase boundary (MPB) lines that lies between the two phases by means

of stoichiometry affected by the zirconate, Zr content in the ceramics.

Figure 2.1.2.1 Phase transition in lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic

(a) (b)

Figure 2.1.2.2 PZT piezoelectric ceramics application in (a) sensor and (b) actuator

10
 Both lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic and barium titanate (BaTiO3)

ceramic are popular and known for their good piezoelectric properties and so in table

2.1.2.1 will show the comparison between the two ceramics along with validated data

values.

Table 2.1.2.1 Comparison of different piezoelectric properties between Quartz, Barium

Titanate and Lead Zirconate Titanate

Parameter Quartz BaTiO3 PZT

𝑑33 (pC/N) 2.3 190 289

𝑔33 (10-3 Vm/N) 57.8 12.6 26.1

𝑘𝑡 0.09 0.38 0.51

𝑘𝑝 - 0.33 0.58

𝜀3𝑇 /𝜀0 5 1700 1300

QM >105 - 500

𝑇𝐶 (℃) - 120 328

Table 2.1.2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) ceramics

Advantage(s) Disadvantage(s)

 Possess high piezoelectric response by  Not environmentally friendly due to

approximately 2700μC/cm2 (Baettig, high lead emission upon the

Schelle, LeSar, Waghmare, & application and synthesis of the

Spaldin, 2005). ceramic into the air (Aksel & Jones,

2010).

11
 Unfortunately the PZT based ceramics is hazardous to human welfare and

environmental as it is made up of almost 60wt% of lead (Juan, 2009). Due to the

environmental issues comes from the lead content in the PZT ceramics during its

operation which release poison lead gas, numerous research had been done in attempt to

produce a lead-free piezoelectric ceramic materials.

2.1.3 Potassium Sodium Niobate (KNN) material ceramic

Development of lead-free piezoelectric material from alkali niobate and

modified bismuth had been extensively done as it has the advantage over other lead-free

materials that prominently can replace the commercial PZT ceramic such in KNN based

ceramic material with its responsive piezoelectric response and along with high Curie

temperature compare to other lead-free materials (Juan, 2009). In a study upon

(K,Na,Li)(Nb,Ta,Sb)O3 ceramics, there had been a report saying that the ceramics

achieved approximately 400 pC/N of piezoelectric coefficient out of the most

commonly reported with ranges between 100 to 250-300 pC/N as compare to the

commercial PZT ceramic which has a value of 200-600 pC/N (Damjanovic, Klein, Li,

& Porokhonskyy, 2010). Palei, Pattanaik & Kumar (2012) also reported that only hot

pressed samples are able to be adequately densified since they are very delicate and

responsive towards moisture.

There had been plenty numbers of studies and research done to enhance the

KNN piezoelectric ceramic microstructure and its properties in which comes along in

establishment of its grain structure enabling it to almost achieve the MPB phase through

a different chemical modification alternative (Wang, Lu, Wu, Wang, & Li, 2012). There

had been lots of different procedure in various environment and in synthesizing KNN

12
ceramics as there are complications had been identified as it mainly made up of alkali

oxides which makes them volatile thus resulting less homogenous, poor densification

and phase instability (Vats & Vaish, 2014). Any sintered KNN-based ceramics is

known for its unsatisfactory density and has low sinterability because of its volatility

properties when treated under certain temperature and thus its microstructure tends to

deviate which resulting the ceramic to develop secondary phase among the grains

(Bafandeh, Gharahkhani, & Lee, 2014).

2.2 Effect of powder processing towards sinterability and microstructure of in

the KNN ceramic powder

In order to produce a finer powder , Schey (1987) stated that the grain size

reducing process happens when the particles are in the way between colliding adjacent

solid metal or ceramic grinding media balls. A good performance and desirable

piezoelectric ceramic feature is the one with an orderly grain structure (Buchanan,

1991). Physical properties of a ceramic such as the strength, hardness and brittleness

depends highly on the grain sizes (King, 2002). Good powder preparation method will

results desired ceramics properties in terms of the size of the particle in the selected raw

materials (Richerson, 2006).

13
 Figure 2.2.1 Interrelation between processing, properties and microstructure

2.2.1 Preparation of KNN raw materials into fine powders by milling

Drying of the raw material prior to mill process is the most common steps before

mixing the powders together. This process is usually done to obtain stoichiometry the

pure KNN ceramic materials. In order to achieve high dielectric constant and

piezoelectric constant, the ceramic ball milling is known for the most used method of

getting the desired particle size in which the process in categorized under mechanical

comminution (Rahaman, 2003).

Moreover, he also states the advantage of using milling process is they are

affordable and has a vast applicability in the ceramic manufacturing industry. The

process in order to obtain an average uniform powder particle size, d50 from a raw

material ranging around 0.6 and 3𝜇𝑚 is called the milling process (Rubio-Marcos,

Romero, Martín-Gonzalez, & Fernández, 2010). Table 2.1.4.1 shows how such different

techniques comes with different milling action that works as just the same in size

reduction process

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Table 2.2.1.1 Milling techniques with different milling action (Lee & Rainforth, 1994)

Technique Milling action

Attrition

Attrition

Ball

Impact

Planetary

Impact

Attrition is also known as turbo milling where it has capability to produce finest

along with high purity powder without existence of other impurities through a high

speed wet grinding from coarse to fine powder fraction in an intense turbulence between

the powder and milling media in the cylinder (Schwartz, 1992). Ball milling process

15
works by placing the powdered particles along with grinding ball media in a horizontal

rotating cylinder to be ground together as the cylinder rotates at speed (Richerson,

1992). He also added that a parameter such as specific gravity, relative size and

hardness of both grinding media and the particles affects the grinding rate in ball

milling. The physical setup of planetary mill with four small and balanced mill jar on

planetary platform enables the process to take place at shorter time with immense

gravitational force ( King, 2002).

The impact in some milling technique can be considered as equal as crushing the

particle between the balls but the technique can wear out as the powders is milled for

certain period of time where the particles are only able to receive enough impact just to

break some each particle on their surface (Lee & Rainforth, 1994). There are two types

of milling which are wet and dry milling. According to King ( 2002), sometimes dry

milling is an alternative process performed to skip the drying process and prevent the

formation of hard clumps in the powder without presence of any liquid. As for the wet

milling, he also states that this process best practiced to obtain both coarse or fine

grained slip in the laboratory work. Table 2.2.1.2 below shows the advantages and

disadvantages for both wet and dry milling.

Table 2.2.1.2 Advantages and disadvantages of wet milling and dry milling

Type of milling Advantages Disadvantages

Took less time compare to Requires liquid removal

Wet milling
dry milling process

Low cost compare to wet Powders will built up on

Dry milling
milling the sides of the mill

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 Before milling, there are some steps that need to be taken into considerations

which are the ratio of ball and the powders, the diameter of the balls and the power load

of the mill. Those are the parameters that need to be analyse and pre-determined in

order for us to acquire the desired particle size.

Case 1: Number of balls > amount of powder particles

 If the number of balls are more than the powders, the ball will get jammed

and packed as not much movement of the powder particles. Thus, there will

be less powders to ground.

Case 2: Number of balls = amount of powder particles

 When the ratio of the balls is equal to the powder amounts, the milling

process will be efficient and faster.

Case 3: Number of balls < amount of powder particles

 If the amount of powders are more than the number of balls, the balls may

not be able to grind all the powders and thus the milling will not be efficient.

In a research journal done by Hyuno Shin, Sangwook Lee, Hyun Suk Jung,

Joon-Bong Kim where they did an experiment to study the effect of ball size and

powder loading on the milling efficiency of a laboratory-scale wet ball mill upon 10 g

of alumina powder with an average diameter of 6.0 𝜇m. They will observe the effect on

the average diameter of the powder after milled with five different zirconia balls

diameter which are 1,2,3,5 and 10 mm in polyethylene for 12 hours period with variable

rotation speed. Their experiment is done as they reduce the ball diameter from 5 mm to

2 mm with increasing mill rotation speed from 50 rpm to 153 rpm.

17
Figure 2.2.1.1 Graph of average particle size against ball diameter at different rotation

mill speed (Shin, Lee, Suk Jung, & Kim, 2013).

Their experiment concluded that the optimum ball diameter decreases as the

rotation speed increases which they had performed analysis in light of the competition

between the reduced kinetic energy of the smaller diameter balls and the increased

number of contact points of the small diameter balls. From the analysis, they discovered

that the kinetic energy of the balls increases which on the other hand the optimum ball

diameter reduces. Eventually the effectiveness of the milling reduces constantly as the

powder load increases from 5 to 35 g along with the average particle size as shown in

figure 2.2.1.2.c and figure 2.2.1.3.c.

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Figure 2.2.1.2 Particle size distribution (a), percent passing (b), and average particle

size (c) of milled powder for varying powder loading. Ball size and rotation speed

are 2 mm and 153 rpm, respectively (Shin et al., 2013)

Figure 2.2.1.3 Particle size distribution (a), percent passing (b), and average particle

size (c) of milled powder for varying powder loading. Ball size and rotation speed

are 3 mm and 100 rpm, respectively (Shin et al., 2013)

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2.2.2 Suitable powder preparation and calcination temperature for homogeneity

of KNN ceramic powders

When a powder undergoes heat treatment in order to modify its characteristics

whether it will cause the powders to react in such ways to form coarser grain or

eliminating carbon ores, the process is called calcination ( Richerson, 1992). Sometimes

powders that had been calcined offers variety level of porosity where they often

produced during elimination of other side chemicals or impurities in the powder. (Lee &

Rainforth, 1994).

Figure 2.2.2.1 is the result of XRD pattern of KNN powders from the studies

done by Chen et al. (2011) after they had calcined their powders. Initially their studies,

they prepare their powders firstly by drying the raw materials prior to mixing at 200℃

for 2 hours in which they will be later mixed according to the stoichiometry ratio. Their

powders are then milled in planetary ball with Zirconia grinding balls ranging 3-10 mm

in diameter mixing with the powders mixed with ethanol solution for 5 hours at the

speed of 300 rev/min to be dried in an oven at 100℃ after the milling process.

They did their calcination process in a preheated alumina crucible where the

powders are divided into three batch for each will be calcined at 830℃, 850℃ and

870℃ at sintering rate of 3℃/min for 5 hours. The results shown in figure (a) is that

there are no signs of raw materials exist in the powders and only the orthorhombic

phase crystal. By them enlarging the XRD pattern between 20° and 35°, they discovered

that there are presence of secondary phase in the powders at which batch of the powders

that are sintered at 850℃ and 870℃. They concluded that the suitable calcining

temperature is 830℃.

20
 Figure 2.2.2.1 (a) XRD pattern of KNN powders after calcined at 830℃, 850℃ and

870℃ (b) Enlarged XRD pattern between 20° and 35° (Chen et al., 2011)

P. Kumar, M. Pattanaik and Sonia done the research of synthesizing and

characterizing of KNN ferroelectric ceramics near 50/50 MPB in which they obtain the

coexistence of both orthorhombic and monoclinic structures in K0.5No.5NbO3. In

addition, their SEM characterization of sintered KNN ceramics revealed dense and

homogenous packing of grains. First of all, their raw materials were to ball milled in

21
zirconia balls separately in distilled water for 14 hours. The slurry formed were then to

be dried in an oven for 130℃ for 1 hour. In order to obtain three different stoichiometry

which are x=0.48, 0.50 and 0.52 with chemical equation of KxNa1-xNbO3, The powders

are prepared by mixing the K2CO3 and Na2CO3 with amount of stoichiometry with

distilled water through stirring until a transparent solution is formed. Nb2O5 powders

with amount of stoichiometry were then weigh and poured into the transparent solution

to be further mixed and heated. After the powders had been completely dissolved, the

solution is then next to be dried in an oven of 130℃ for 10 hours to obtain the desired

stoichiometry KNN powders. The powders then calcined at 700℃ for 6 hours. Figure

2.2.2.2 shows the XRD pattern after the powders had been calcined from which they

observed that all the sharp peaks shows that the powders had been properly prepared

which they had good crystallinity and homogenous as well.

Figure 2.2.2.2 XRD pattern of MPB composition of KxNa1-xNbO3 system (x=0.48,

0.50, 0.52) calcined at 700℃. (Kumar, Pattanaik, & Sonia, 2013)

22
 In other research done to improve the piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties

of KNN ceramics, Na Wei, Jin Wang, Bo Li, Yu Huan and Longtu Li process their

KNN powders by two step calcination-milling in which powders undergoes milling and

calcination twice alternatively.

Milled for 6 hours

Mix K2CO3, Na2CO3 Calcined at 950°C
using planetary mill
and Nb2O5 for 3 hours
in ethanol solution

Ball milled for 8 Ball milled for 8

Same powder batch
hours and let dried hours and let dried
is calcined at 950°C
(abbreviated as (abbreviated for
for another 3 hours
powder 2, P2) powder 1, P1)

P1 and P2 mixed Sintered at 1100°C

Pressed into 100 mm
with polyvinyl for 2 hours at
diameter and 1 mm
butryal (PVB) as heating rate of
thickness
binder 5°C/min

Figure 2.2.2.3 Flow process of two step calcining-milling procedure process

Figure 2.2.2.4 (i) XRD pattern of P1 and P2 (ii) Particle size distribution of P1 and P2

(Wei, Wang, Li, Huan, & Li, 2015)

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Figure 2.2.2.5 SEM images of (a) Powder 1, P1 and (b) Powder 2, P2 (Wei et al., 2015)

From their report result shown in figure 2.2.2.5.(i), the diffraction pattern of P1

and P2 are almost the same which means that the formation of phase almost completed

in the first calcination process and they also confirmed that they are no other phase

transition occurred in the second calcination process. Most of the sharp peaks which are

very much close to each other from the figure 2.2.2.5.(ii) indicates that the particle sizes

of both powders are arranged almost close enough with other subsequent particles. The

structural difference can be visually seen from figure 2.2.2.6 through SEM images at

1𝜇m resolution.

24
Figure 2.2.2.6 (a), (b), (c), (d), is the SEM images of surface and corresponding cross-

section of SP1 and SP2; (e) & (f) is the SEM images of the polished section

corresponding to (a) and (b) respectively (Wei et al., 2015)

Figure (a), (c) and (e) is the SEM image for sintered powder 1, SP1 and figure

(b), (d) and (f) is the SEM images for sintered powder 2, SP2. Their research concluded

that when KNN ceramics powders were sintered with twice calcining-milling yields

better piezoelectric properties where their able to obtain 96.7% relative density without

add in other sintering aids or dopants. They believe that two step calcined-milled

process had enhanced their KNN ceramic microstructure in terms of homogeneity and

grain size reduction.

25
2.3 Binders for KNN green body formation

Binders can be categorized along with starch, gums, polyvinyl alcohol or

cellulose with their properties as a deflocculants and even soluble organic wax (Sen,

1992). The flexibility and strength of a formed green body depends on the amount and

the selected binder used (King, 2002). For better densification, the selected binder

should provide good grip on the particles of the particle during green body formation

for optimum density and organized particle arrangement (Lee & Rainforth, 1994).

Table 2.3.1 List of organic components of tape-casting binder system (Richerson, 1992)

10,000 - 30,000 molecular weight polymers mixed with powder

Binder
suspension: after drying provide flexibility and integrity to green tape

Small-to-medium sized molecule that decreases cross-linking among

Plasticizers binder molecules; this makes the tape more pliable, e.g., polyethylene

glycol

Typically 1000 to 10,00 molecular weight polymer molecules that aid in

Dispersants
dispersion of ceramic particles, e.g., isocctylphenylpolyethoxyethanol

Various organic substances used to minimize frothing usually due to

Defoaming agents
addition of dispersant, e.g., tributyl phosphate

Small-to-medium sized molecules that impart wettability to the ceramics

Wetting agents
powder by the solvent system

26
2.4 Effect of sintering temperature and sintering time on grain growth and

porosity in KNN material ceramic formation

According to King (2002) a crucial steps for development of grain growth and

for sustaining the pores in the ceramics, to is the temperature where as the temperature

increase, the grain growth increases. According to Buchanan (2003), when a dense and

porous material solid are to be placed under a certain amount of high temperature, the

grain growth. The selection of both sintering temperature and time will be made

according to the past research variables that had been done by the past researchers.

From past research study done by Du et al. (2006), their KNN ceramic samples were

calcined at 900°C and sintered at a temperature of 1100°C with various heat rate

through pressure-less sintering method in an attempt to study the effect of the

temperature and sintering rate upon the grain microstructure of the ceramics. Their

XRD pattern result analysis shows in figure 2.4.1 proves that their powders exist in pure

perovskite phase with common orthorhombic symmetry without any other phase or

impurity detected in after the calcination process.

Figure 2.4.1 Result of XRD pattern upon KNN powders after calcined at 900℃ and

KNN ceramics sintered at 1110℃ with different heating rate (Du et al., 2006)

27
 Through SEM micrograph in figure 2.4.1 of their samples, they had achieved

organized KNN ceramic microstructure which came out dense with good grain

boundary formation and their grain size has an average around 5 𝜇𝑚. They concluded

when heating rate done beyond 5℃/𝑚𝑖𝑛, the microstructure mainly inhomogeneous

with developed pores within the grain boundary of their samples. as shown in figure

2.4.1.

i. ii.
Figure 2.4.2 Sample sintered at 1100°C at a sintering rate of 𝟓℃⁄𝒎𝒊𝒏 (Du et al., 2006)

iii. iv.
Figure 2.4.3 Sample sintered at 1100°C at a sintering rate of 𝟔℃/𝒎𝒊𝒏 (Du et al., 2006)

28
 From the findings that had been done by Vats & Vaish (2014) in attempt for

them to determine the best sintering temperature for ideal properties of

electromechanical properties in KNN ceramics, they had concluded that 1080℃ and

1120℃ to be least favourable sintering temperature. They also added that upon

sensitivity analysis, dielectric loss tangent tan 𝛿 property in the ceramics which are

more likely to interchange at the temperature of 1100℃ and 1120℃.

Figure 2.4.4 (a) Graph relative density of KNN ceramic at different sintering

temperature (b), (c) and (d) microstructure of sintered KNN ceramics at 1075℃, 1100℃

and 1125℃ respectively (Priya & Nahm, 2013).

29
 In a research journal by Priya & Nahm (2013), they discuss about the

development of KNN based piezoelectric ceramics. Based on the figure 2.4.3 through

conventional sintering, the ceramic only able to obtain 91% density of theoretical

density when sintered at 1100℃. They also report about there are signs of partial melt

down and some deformation among the grains at sintering temperature of 1100℃ and

1125°C since they knew that the melting temperature KNN ceramic is around 1150°C.

30
 Figure 2.4.5 Microstructures of KNN-based ceramic samples at different stages of

processing (a) calcined powders at 950°C for 180 min (b) ball-milled powder for 48 h

after calcination (c) sintered at 1,030°C, 0 min (d) sintered at 1,070°C, 0 min (e)

sintered at 1,090°C, 0 min, inset of figure (e) shows KNN specimen sintered at 1,100°C

for 0 min (f) sintered at 1,150°C, 0 min; left inset: schematic diagram (Priya & Nahm,

2013)

Figure 2.4.5.c shows that there are liquid phase present in the KNN ceramics

after it is sintered at the range of 950℃ - 1060℃ and which the authors had mentioned

that the presence of liquid phase is important since it affects the densification of the

KNN based ceramics. It is to be said that good grain arrangement can be more develop

if liquid phase exist at the grain boundaries as it assist the movement of the grains

31
which also helps in reducing porosity in the ceramics. At temperature 1090℃ and

1150℃, they observe that the coarsening rate increases.

Figure 2.4.6 Density of KNN ceramics at different sintering temperature (Priya &

Nahm, 2013).

From the graph plotted by the author, there result of are almost the same as the

one reported in the case of liquid-assisted sintering which the results shows uniform

microstructure at the grain boundaries. Pure KNN ceramics has maximum density

roughly above 4.0 g/cm3 at sintering temperature between 1130℃ and 1140℃.

32
 Figure 2.4.7 FEG-SEM analysis on KNN ceramics sintered at (a) 1050℃ (b) 1100℃

and (c) 1150℃ (Singh, Kulkarni, & Harendranath, 2014)

Based on the FEG-SEM analysis done by Singh, Kulkarni & Harendranath

(2014), they had their ceramics sintered at 1050℃, 1100℃ and 1150℃ for two hours

through conventional sintering after being calcined at 800℃ with aims to study the

effect of sintering temperature on the composition, microstructure and electrical

properties of the KNN ceramic. Since their ceramics were synthesized by colloidal

coating method where sintering them under 1100℃ gives them the best compromising

results. They obtain 92% of 𝜌th density where this means the ceramic develops good

microstructure. It is shown in the figure 2.4.3.(b) that there are less porosity formed and

the grains are in well mannered position. Table 2.3.1 below shows the density, Tporosity,

𝜀 observed and 𝜀 corrected for further analysis on the electrical properties.

33
 Table 2.4.1 Results of density, 𝜀 observed and 𝜀 corrected to obtain 𝜀′max of different

temperature sintered KNN ceramics (Singh et al., 2014).

2.5 Summary

In order to improve the microstructure of KNN ceramic powders in terms of

grain growth in the ceramic, good powder preparation and optimum sintering

temperature with sintering time needs to be carefully selected to avoid over

crystallization. For milling process, parameters such as ball diameter, number of balls

used and ratio between the powder and the ball must be first pre-determined before

proceed with the process for effectiveness as well. It is better to have average ball small

diameter ball with 2 to 3 mm with average 153 rpm based on the findings done by Shin

et al. (2013).

Finer particle sized powders enables the particles to have more compact

ceramics by which means there will be less porosity and better densification when it is

later to be sintered at high temperature. For grain size reduction, planetary milling is

better as it can get the milling process done with liquid within a short time. Better

powder homogeneity greatly affects the piezoelectric properties of the ceramics. The

homogeneity of ceramic powders depends on the temperature and pre-calcined powder

preparation. From the previous study above, the optimum calcining temperature is

ranging around 830℃ with sintering rate of 3 ℃/𝑚𝑖𝑛 for 5 hours done by Chen et al.,

34
(2011). Binders that will be used must be selected according to its suitable chemical

properties which will not cause the green body come being too stiff. The amount of the

binders should not be too much nor too little either the slurry mixture may took longer

time to sintered to eliminate the binder or it may not enough to aid particle movement

in creating dense and uniform packing of the KNN ceramics.

35