3D Printing of BaTiO₃ Piezoelectric Ceramics for a Focused Ultrasonic Array

BaTiO₃ (BTO) ceramics were fabricated based on stereolithography technology. The microstructures and electric properties of the BTO ceramics were studied. X-ray patterns of sintered BTO ceramics indicated that the tetragonal phase had formed, and the grain size increased clearly as BTO weight percentage increased. Moreover, the BTO ceramics exhibited good electric properties, with a piezoelectric constant d₃₃ of 166 pC/N at 80% BTO weight percentage. To evaluate the properties of 3D printed BTO ceramics, a 1.4 MHz focused ultrasonic array was fabricated and characterized. The -6dB bandwidth of the array was 40%, and the insertion loss at the center frequency was 50 dB. The results show that the printed BTO ceramics array have good potential to be used in ultrasonic transducers for various applications.