Abstract
Liquid phase sintering of lead zirconate titanate (abbreviated as PZT) ceramics with a 0.78 PbO-0.22 CuO (10:1 in weight ratio) flux was investigated. A small amount sintering flux consisting of a stoichiometrically mixed oxide of PbO-CuO with a eutectic composition successfully accelerated densification of the PZT ceramics far below the conventional sintering temperature. With the 3 wt% flux additions, full densifications of the PZT ceramics were achieved at temperatures as low as 825 °C. The results obtained in the crystal structure, microstructure, and electrical property analyses suggest that the Cu2+ impurity ion substitutes as an acceptor center for the perovskite B-site without forming isolated secondary phases. Defect associates of the Cu2+ impurities and charge compensating oxygen vacancies appear to affect dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the sintered PZT samples in both positive and negative ways by forming defect dipoles. When the Cu2+ content is small, slightly improved dielectric and piezoelectric performances were achieved, though ferroelectric relaxation was obviously developed at the higher Cu2+ contents. For the PZT samples sintered at 825 °C with 3 wt% flux addition, relative dielectric permittivity was 2200 and dielectric loss was less than 2%. Remnant polarization, coercive fields, and piezoelectric coefficient (d33) were 32 μC/cm2, 8.9 kV/cm and 373 pC/N, respectively.
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