Modified Lead Zirconate Titanate Ceramics Prepared By Spark Plasma Sintering

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) has been widely investigated for sintering metals, ceramics and composite materials due to its unique advantages of low temperature and rapid sintering. In this paper, modified lead zirconate titanate (Pb0.87-0.07xBa0.10-K).07x)La0.02(Zr0.7Sn0.15T10.15)O3(x=0,0.65,1)(PBLZST) ceramics and0.9PbZrO3-xPbTiO3-(0.1-x)Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3(x=0,0.025,0.05)(PZ-PT-PZN) ceramics were sintered by SPS and their microstructure and properties were investigated. The effects of heat-treatment on the micro structures and properties of SPS sintered ceramics were investigated.Compared to the PBLZST ceramics sintered by conventional sintering method (CS), SPS sintered PBLZST ceramics have smaller grain size and higher density. Only cubic phase were observed in the SPS sintered PBLZST ceramics. PBLZST ceramics (x=0.65) sintered by CS possess clear domain structure and tetragonal phase, while no domain structure was observed in the SPS sintered PBLZST ceramics. PBLZST ceramics sintered by SPS exhibit lower dielectric constant, wider dielectric peak, slightly higher Curie temperature, smaller saturated polarization and residual polarization. PBLZST ceramics sintered by CS undergo phase transitions (from paraelectric phase to antiferroelectric phase and then to ferroelectric phase) aroud Tc. These phase transitions were significantly suppressed in the SPS sintered ceramics.It was found that the structure and performance of the SPS sintered PBLZST ceramics are significantly influenced by the heat-treatment. The SPS sintered PBLZST ceramics heat-treated at1073K are single cubic phase. When the heat-treatment temperature was increased to1473k, coexistence of cubic and hexagonal phase was observed in the SPS sintered ceramics. Multi-compositional PBLZST ceramics was also successfully prepared by SPS.Dense0.9PbZrO3-xPbTiO3-(0.1-x)Pb(Zni/3Nb2/3)O3(X=0,0.025,0.05)(PZ-PT-PZN) ceramics and multi-compositional PZ-PT-PZN ceramics were prepared by SPS. PZ-PT-PZN ceramics with x=0possess orthogonal phase and small grain size. PZ-PT-PZN ceramics with x=0.025and0.05possess hexagonal phase. With the increase of the amount of Ti, the Curie temperature and the dielectric constant of the PZ-PT-PZN ceramics increase. Addition of Ti significantly increases the saturated polarization and residual polarization of PZ-PT-PZN ceramics.