Low-temperature sintering PZT-based ceramics for extreme condition application

Ba(Cu0.5W0.5)O3 (BaCW)-doped (1-x)Pb(Zr0.5Ti0.5)O3-x(Bi0.5Na0.5)ZrO3 [(1-x)PZT-xBNZ, x = 0.025-0.1] ceramics were prepared by solid-state reaction method. Low-temperature sintering is realized at around 1000 degrees C sintering temperature due to adding BaCW sintering aid and (Bi0.5Na0.5)ZrO3 (BNZ) second component. All low-temperature sintered BaCW-doped (1-x)PZT-xBNZ ceramics exhibit pure perovskite structure, in which the structure changes successively from tetragonal, across morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) and to rhombohedral with increasing the BNZ content. All samples have large density, high resistivity, and rather uniform morphology with decreased grain size. All ceramics present apparent relaxation characteristic, and the MPB effect is confirmed by dielectric, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric performance characterization, whereas extremum performance appears at different compositions. High Curie temperature (TC) with acceptable piezoelectricity (d33) is obtained in the BaCW-doped (1-x)PZT-xBNZ system prepared by low-temperature sintering technique, i.e., the 1000 degrees C sintered 2 wt% BaCW-doped 0.9PZT-0.1BNZ having d33 = 209 pC/N with TC = 281 degrees C, and 0.95PZT-0.05BNZ having d33 = 151 pC/N with TC = 345 degrees C, which present broad application possibility in piezoelectric-related fields under extreme condition.