| abstract |
Disclosed is a piezoelectric ceramic material which is mainly composed of a bismuth layered compound, and which comprises 100 parts by mass of a component represented by the compositional formula: Bi4Ti3O12 w[(1-x)A1-y-zBiyREzTiO3 xBiFeO3] [wherein A represents M1α(M21/2Bi1/2)1-α, M1 represents an alkali earth metal element, M2 represents an alkali metal element, RE represents a rare earth element, and w, x, y, z and α satisfy the following formulae: 1.30 ≤ w ≤ 1.75, 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.10, 0 ≤ y+z ≤ 0.30 and 0 ≤α ≤ 1] and 0.05 part by mass or more of Mn in terms of the content of an oxide (MnO2). Also disclosed is a piezoelectric ceramic material which is mainly composed of a bismuth layered compound, which comprises 100 parts by mass of the main component represented by the compositional formula: Bi4Ti3O12 w(A1-zREz)TiO3 [wherein A represents M1α(M21/2Bi1/2)1-α, M1 represents an alkali earth metal element, M2 represents an alkali metal element, RE represents a rare earth element, and w, z and α satisfy the following formulae: 0.2 ≤ w, 0.05 ≤ z ≤ 0.3 and 0 ≤ α ≤ 1] and 0.05 to 2.0 parts by mass of Mn in terms of the content of an oxide (MnO2), and in which Mn is not distributed unevenly in spaces between the particles. |