Three‐dimensional printing of micro‐column BaTiO ₃ ceramics and their applications in 1–3 piezoelectric composite transducer

Abstract The photopolymerization‐based three‐dimensional (3D) printing technique overcomes the limitations associated with complex geometries and significantly reduces manufacturing time, making it increasingly suitable for fabricating micro‐scale materials. This study evaluates the influence of printing parameters on the microstructure and electrical properties of piezoelectric ceramics by fabricating BaTiO 3 (BT) ceramics with varying solid contents (34–47 vol%) and printing layer thicknesses (5–40 µm) using photopolymerization. The printed BT ceramic exhibits favorable electrical properties ( d 33 ∼255 pC/N, ε r ∼1681, tan δ∼0.013) when the solid content is 40 vol% and the layer thickness is 10 µm. In addition, micro‐columns with a width of 150 µm are successfully printed and integrated into a high‐performance 1–3 composite ultrasonic transducer, achieving a center frequency of 13.5 MHz and a ‐6 dB bandwidth of 52%. These results indicated that optimizing the solid content and printing layer thickness is essential for producing ceramics with superior performance. Photopolymerization‐based 3D printing presents strong potential for fabricating complex structures and highly precise piezoelectric composites.