DIELECTRIC AND FERROELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF (1 - x) Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–xPbZrO3 CERAMICS WITH CATION ORDER

Abstract

Electrical properties and the B-site cation order were investigated in the (1 - x) Pb ( Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3) O 3 - x PbZrO 3(0 ≤ x ≤ 0.25) solid solution ceramics. It was found that long range 1:1 B-site cation order can be developed through slow cooling during sintering in the solid solution with compositions around x = 0.10. The observed long range cation order is in sharp contrast to previous studies where a disordered structure was invariably resulted in the (1 - x) Pb ( Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3) O 3–x PbZrO 3 solid solution. The ceramics with cation order display dielectric and ferroelectric properties similar to those disordered ceramics reported in literature. The dielectric properties were also compared in detail to our previous Pb ( Mg 1/3 Zr 2x/3 Nb 2(1 - x)/3) O 3 - x/3 ceramics where Zr 4+ is designed to substitute Nb 5+ only. The results were discussed on the basis of the relationships between cation order and electric dipole order.