Study of changes in lead-free piezoceramics due to ionizing radiation exposure

The subject matter of the present study is the damage in lead-free piezoelectrics caused by X-ray radiation. Specifically, in the ceramic system (100−x)(Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3-xBaTiO3, x=6 (BNBT6) and x=7 (BNBT7). By scanning a small portion of the sample with X-ray to produce in-situ radiation damage while measuring μ-XRF and μ-XANES around Ti K-edge energy. X-rays effectively interact with this type of materials, due to the photoelectric effect is intense at “low” photon energies (~Ti K-edge). Ti K-edge spectra are expected to present anomalous absorption intensities in some energy intervals and in some areas of the sample with high concentration of Ti and Ba and low concentration of Bi. This is linked with defects in the crystal lattice, which are mostly oxygen vacancies. These defects can alter their original properties after being damaged.