Patent 7728493 was granted and assigned to NGK Insulators on June, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A piezoelectric/electrostrictive material having a nonstoichiometric composition represented by a general formula (1):(1−x)(BiaNabTiO3+δ)−x(KcNbO3+ζ) (1)wherein 0.01≦x<0.08, a<0.5, 1.01≦(a/b)≦1.08, 0.92≦(a+b)/c<0.99, and 0.9≦c≦1.1, and ζ≠0 when δ=0 and δ≠0 when ζ=0.