Obtaining and Characterizing the Dielectric and Ferroelectric Properties of the PZT-Pms Complex System Through Solid State Reactions and Spark Plasma Sintering

Abstract

In this paper B-oxide sintering process and Spark plasma Sintering (SPS) method is used to synthesize 0.88Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 – 0.12Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3 – x at%Pr complex system where x = 0 and 0.02. The sintering temperature used in the SPS technique is considerably lower than that used in the B-oxide method (200 to 400oC) with significant decrease of the duration of the sintering route, arriving to some minutes instead of some hours. The aim of the study is the investigation of the effect of sintering technique on the dielectric and ferroelectric properties of such piezoelectric materials. The properties of the developed ceramic materials were determined: the development of crystalline phases was investigated by X-ray diffraction technique and the microstructural behavior by scanning electron microscopy was observed. The composition obtained by the SPS technique shows a lower remnant polarization and maximum strain, as well as a higher coercive field, compared to the those obtained using the same composition produced by B-oxide method.