Electrical investigation of sintering factors influence on PLZT ceramics

The role of technological factors like calcining and sintering temperature on the dielectric, electromechanical, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of PLZT 9/65/35 ceramics has been investigated. This composition has been chosen because it shows the coexistence of normal micron-sized polar domains with nanodomains and it is therefore very sensitive to thermal history. The samples have been prepared by a conventional mixed oxide method followed by sintering in Pb-rich atmosphere, so that only B-site vacancies have been obtained. For all sets of samples the variation of technological parameters induced changes in the physical properties. A relatively high variation of the dielectric permittivity and field-induced strain has been found among samples sintered at different temperatures. These variations have been connected with the microstructural parameters (grain dimensions and distribution) found from SEM analysis.