Reaction sintering of lead zinc niobate-lead zirconate titanate ceramics

Abstract Lead zinc niobate (PZN)–lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics were produced by the reaction-sintering process. The specimens were prepared directly from a mixture of their constituent oxides without any calcination step. When 50% PZN was added to tetragonal Pb(Zr 0.47 Ti 0.53 )O 3 ceramics, the densities and electrical properties were found to be optimal ( ρ  = 7.91 g/cm 3 , K  = 1947 at 1 kHz and room temperature, d 33  = 530 pC/N, k p  = 0.61). However, the specimen containing more than 50% PZN showed reduced density and decreased electrical properties, due to the formation of pyrochlore phases. The improved densification behavior of the reaction-sintering process was attributed to the enhanced diffusion of lattice defects, which were created by differences in the ionic valence of the B-sites ions of the perovskite structure.