Evaluation of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 Ceramics Prepared by Aerosol Deposition

Abstract

A comparative study of the sintering behavior of Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT) ceramics prepared by aerosol deposition (AD) and conventional solid-state sintering (CV) was performed. PZT thick-films with thickness of 300 µm were deposited on the substrate by AD at 600 °C. Then, bulk PZT ceramics were obtained by etching the substrate, followed by firing at various temperatures from 800 to 1200 °C for 3 h in air. Despite the small grain size of 0.42 µm, a well saturated polarization–electric field (P–E) hysteresis loop was observed in AD-processed PZT ceramics fired at 1000 °C with remanent polarization (Pr) and coercive electric field (Ec) of 40 µC/cm2 and 20 kV/cm, respectively. Furthermore, electromechanical coupling factor (kt) and piezoelectric constant (d33) were 0.5 and 410 pC/N, respectively. These electric properties are comparable to those of bulk PZT ceramics with a large grain size (>1 µm) prepared by CV at 1100 to 1200 °C.