Effect of heating rate on the sintering behavior and the piezoelectric properties of lead zirconate titanate ceramics

The effect of heating rate on the sintering behavior and the piezoelectric properties of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics was investigated, Two different types of PZT (pure and doped with Nb2O5) were sintered at 1150 de greesC for 2 h with a wide range of heating rate (0.5 degrees -100 degreesC /min). The densification of pure PZT was improved significantly by increasi ng the heating rate. The improvement was attributed to the suppression of P bO volatilization and grain coarsening during heating. In contrast, the den sification behavior of a PZT specimen doped with Nb2O5 was not much influen ced by the heating rate. These densification behaviors affected the piezoel ectric properties of the specimens. The piezoelectric properties of pure PZ T were enhanced significantly by increasing the heating rate, while those o f doped specimens were improved only moderately.