Electro-elastic features of YBa₃(PO₄)₃ and YbBa₃(PO₄)₃ crystals with pure face-shear mode for acoustic wave sensor applications

The fundamental shear horizontal (SH0) waves have been proved to be a very useful method for non-destructive testing due to their non-dispersive characteristics. Currently, although several methods have been proposed to generate SH0 waves, it is still a challenge to obtain pure SH0 wave mode efficiently. Herein, in this study, non-centrosymmetric YBa3(PO4)(3) (YBP) and YbBa3(PO4)(3) (YbBP) crystals with pure face-shear mode were grown via the traditional Czochralski pulling method at temperatures above 1800 degrees C. High resolution X-ray diffraction was carried out to evaluate the crystalline quality. Results showed that the YBP and YbBP crystals were of good quality, with the full width at half-maxima being on the order of 42.5 '' and 52.3 '', respectively. Moreover, the full set of electro-elastic constants for the YBP and YbBP crystals were determined and collated using a combination of impedance and pulse-echo methods. The piezoelectric coefficient (d(14)) of the YBP and YbBP crystals were determined to be 10.6 pC/N and 11.4 pC/N, respectively, corresponding to the electromechanical coupling coefficient (k(14)) equal to 15.4% and 15.9%, exhibiting large and pure face-shear vibration mode. Collectively, these results indicate that the YBP and YbBP crystals are promising for acoustic wave sensing application. (C) 2020 The Chinese Ceramic Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.