Effect of the structural properties on the energy density of Pb(Zr0.47Ti0.53)O-3-Pb[(Ni0.6Zn0.4)(1/3)Nb-2/3]O-3 ceramics

Abstract

(1-x)Pb(Zr0.47Ti0.53)O-3-xPb[(Ni0.6Zn0.4)(1/3)Nb-2/3]O-3 [(1-x)PZT-xP(NZ)N] ceramics with 0.22 <= x <= 0.45232 have the tetragonal-pseudocubic morphotropic phase boundary (MPB). Their epsilon(T)(33)/epsilon(0) values considerably decreased but their d(33) values slowly decreased on the pseudocubic side of the MPB. Therefore, high d(33) x g(33) values were obtained from a composition on the pseudocubic of the MPB because g(33) is given as d(33)/epsilon(T)(33). In particular, a very high d(33) x g(33) value of 20 134 x 10(-15) m(2)/N was observed from the 0.7PZT-0.3P(NZ)N ceramic sintered at 1000 degrees C for 2h, which had a pseudocubic structure. The 0.7PZT-0.3 P(NZ)N ceramic sintered at 950 degrees C also exhibited a similar d(33) x g(33) value of 20 179 x 10(-15) m(2)/N but it considerably decreased to 12 474 x 10(-1)5 m(2)/N for the 0.7PZT-0.3P(NZ)N ceramic sintered at 1100 degrees C for 2 h, which can be explained by the increased epsilon(T)(33) value that resulted from the increased grain size. The grain size of this ceramic decreased as the sintering time decreased, resulting in an increase of the d(33) x g(33) value due to the decreasing epsilon T-33 value. The high d(33) x g(33) value of 19 572 x 10(-15) m(2)/N was also obtained from the 0.7PZT-0.3 P(NZ)N ceramic sintered at 1100 degrees C for 5.0 min, indicating that grain size is also important for obtaining a specimen with a high d(33) x g(33) value.