Perovskite structure (1 - x)BaTiO3-xBiAlO(3) (BT-xBA, x = 0.05, 0.08 and 0.1, corresponding to BT-5BA, BT-8BA and BT-10BA, respectively) ceramics were prepared by a solid state reaction route. Crystal structure of BT-xBA ceramics was determined by using XRD. Dielectric properties were studied as a function of temperature at different frequencies, which indicated that the phase transition temperature (T-m) decreased with increasing x. With increasing temperature, thermal expansion dl/l increased while thermal expansion coefficient alpha had weak concentration dependence. The Burns temperature was much higher than the transition temperature T-m for the BT-5BA and BT-10BA ceramics. Polarization hysteresis loops (P-E), electrostrictive (S-E) and S versus P-2 (S-P-2) at different temperatures were displayed. P-max slightly decreased due to thermally activated leakage current, meanwhile, S-max decreased at above T-m with the contribution of ferroelectric domain reorientation decreased. The electrostrictive coefficient Q value was clearly larger than that of lead-based electrostrictors at room temperature. Furthermore, it exhibited a slim loop with negligible hysteresis and a subtle linear feature at higher temperature. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.