Effect of calcination temperature on the piezoelectric characteristics of Pb(Mn1/3Nb2/3)O3-Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3-Pb(Zr0.50Ti0.50)O3 ceramics

PMN-PNN-PZT ceramics doped with sintering aids such as Li2CO3 and Na2CO3 were fabricated using two-stage calcination method and their structural and piezoelectric properties were investigated according to the 1st calcination temperature in order to develop ceramic composition for low loss and low temperature sintering multilayer piezoelectric actuator. The coulombite phase was successfully synthesized at 1050 degrees C, resulting in increase of perovskite amount of PMN-PNN-PZT ceramics. At the calcination temperature of 1050 degrees C and sintering temperature of 900 degrees C, density, electromechanical coupling factor (k(p)), mechanical quality factor (Q(m)), dielectric constant (epsilon(r)) and piezoelectric constant (d(33)) of PMN-PNN-PZT ceramics showed the optimum values of 7.885 g/cm(3), 0.609, 1088, 1168 and 356 pC/N, respectively.