LEAD-ZIRCONATE-TITANATE PREPARED FROM DIFFERENT ZIRCONIUM AND TITANIUM PRECURSORS BY SOL-GEL

Modified sol-gel processes have been developed for the preparation of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) (52/48) powders. These processes use dif ferent starting sources to introduce the titanium and zirconium compon ents, namely tetraethyl orthotitanate, titanium isopropoxide, or titan ium diisopropoxide bis(2,4-pentanedionate) for titanium and zirconium propoxide or zirconium acetylacetonate for zirconium. To achieve stabl e and homogeneous precursor systems, several solvents (acetic acid, 1, 2-propanediol, propanol, and distilled water) and chemical modifying a dditives, such as acetylacetone and nitric acid, were also introduced for the preparation processes. The influence of the different precurso rs on the crystallization behavior of the sol-gel-derived powders was studied. Well-crystallized single-phase PZT powders were obtained afte r heat treatment at 600 degrees C for 1 h, The powders obtained sinter ed well at 1000 degrees C/2 h and a homogeneous microstructure with sm all grain sizes was obtained.