We investigated the effect of excess CuO on the sintering behavior, ferroelectric, andpiezoelectric properties of lead-free Bi0.5(Na0.82K0.18)0.5TiO3 (BNKT) ceramics. The addition of excess CuOwas found to greatly contribute to the densification and grain growth, however, excess CuO over 3 mol%was precipitated at grain boundaries after sintering. BNKT with 1∼2 mol% CuO in excess sintered at975℃ showed piezoelectric properties comparable to those of unmodified BNKT sintered at 1,175℃. These results seem meaningful for its application to low cost multilayer actuators (MLAs) becauselow firing ceramics make it possible to apply less expensive base metals to the inner electrode ofMLAs.