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 degreesC 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 increasing the heating rate. The improvement was attributed to the suppression of PbO volatilization and grain coarsening during heating. In contrast, the densification behavior of a PZT specimen doped with Nb2O5 was not much influenced by the heating rate. These densification behaviors affected the piezoelectric properties of the specimens. The piezoelectric properties of pure PZT were enhanced significantly by increasing the heating rate, while those of doped specimens were improved only moderately.