Effect of the number of components on the ferroelectric properties of multicomponent solid solutions based on lead zirconate titanate

The residual reorientational polarization P-r (and g(31)) of multicomponent lead-zirconate-titanate-based tetragonal solid solutions differing in the number of components, N, was shown to be proportional to the uniform distor tion parameter delta (t), in contrast to the inverse proportionality within an individual system. This accounts for the nonmonotonic variation of the electromechanical coupling coefficient K-p, which first rises notably with N but decreases in going from quinary to senary systems, while d(31) increa ses only slightly. In light of this, the optimal electrical properties are, as a rule, offered by quinary solid solutions.