Templated grain growth of textured bismuth titanate

Textured bismuth titanate, Bi4Ti3O12 (BiT), was produced by templated grain growth (TGG). Molten-salt-synthesized BiT platelets were dispersed in a ma trix of 200 nm BiT powder and aligned by tape casting. Highly textured BiT was obtained with the use of only 5 vol% template particles by sintering at 1000 degrees C for 1 h, The uniformity of the through-thickness texture is much higher than reported in the literature for BiT tapes cast with 100% p latelets. Initial platelet alignment is shown to increase because of freque nt interaction with the fine powder particles during tape casting. By avoid ing pressure densification techniques and using only a small portion of ani sometric particles, TGG is a low-cost option for fabricating textured ceram ics.