Effects of ZrO/sub 2/ powder on sintering of PZT ceramics

PZT 53/47 ceramics were fabricated from four kinds of zirconium oxide powder to clarify the effects of raw powders on the densification, grain growth and piezoelectric properties from the viewpoint of low-temperature sintering. Two types of ZrO/sub 2/ powder which were different in terms of specific surface area and two types of Zr/sub 0.53/Ti/sub 0.47/O/sub 2/ powder which were different in terms of Nb dopant were used as the starting materials. By adjusting the calcining and grinding conditions appropriately, dense ceramics were obtained at a lower firing temperature than 1000 degrees C. Among the four kinds of powder, the calcined powder started from (Zr,Ti)O/sub 2/ powder doped with Nb/sub 2/O/sub 5/ densified at the lowest temperature, 800 degrees C. The calcined powder started from (Zr,Ti)O/sub 2/ doped with Nb ion was satisfactorily sintered at 950 degrees C to fine-grained ceramics of 0.6 mu m in average grain size and 0.6 in planar coupling factor. >