Twin‐fluid atomization spray pyrolysis (SP) has been investigated for the production of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) powders, using aqueous solutions of lead acetate and zirconium and titanium alkoxide precursor reagents. The particle size distribution of the PZT powder showed a d50 value of 0.3 μm, but with a small fraction of relatively large particles, several micrometers in size. Most particles were spherical but many of the largest particles, in the size range ca. 1–5 μm, were irregular. It was demonstrated that the morphology of the final PZT powder was controlled by decomposition processes occurring during the initial drying stages, at ≤200°C. A pyrochlore or fluorite‐type intermediate crystalline phase was present in the final powders, but when the maximum reactor temperature was raised, and/or when the levels of excess lead in the starting solutions were increased, the proportion of the desired perovskite phase increased. However, at the highest process temperatures studied, ∼900°C, small crystallites of another phase formed on the surface of the PZT particles; these were probably lead oxide carbonate particles. Overall, a starting solution composition containing around 5 mol% excess Pb, and a maximum reactor temperature of 800°C, were selected as offering the most suitable conditions for producing PZT (52/48) powder, with minimal secondary phases(s). Preliminary densification studies showed that the powders could be sintered at 1150°–1200°C to give pellets of 95%–96% theoretical density.

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Powders of composition Ba,,65Sr,,3,Ti03 were prepared from catecholate precursor phases, BaTi(C6H102)3 and SrTi (C,H,O,),. The physical and chemical properties of the base powders, and those doped with 0.2 wt% manganese, are reported in detail. The dimensions of the primary particles in the starting powders were of the order of 20-50 nm, but the Occurrence of abnormal grain growth during sintering promoted grain sizes in the ceramic of up to -100 pm. In some microstructures, coarse grains coexisted with a -1-pm fraction to produce a characteristic bimodal grain size distribution. By contrast, under comparable sintering conditions, namely 1350" or 1400°C for 1 h, grain growth in Mn-doped samples was suppressed, leading to uniform microstructures with a grain size of only a few micrometers. The pellet densities were nevertheless similar, 97% of theoretical in both doped and undoped samples. No significant difference was observed in the dielectric permittivity of the two compositions: the peak relative permittivity occurred at -2O"C, with a maximum value of -22000.

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