Crystal orientation of tetragonal lead zirconate titanate ceramic surface and its aging behavior

A tetragonal lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic surface fabricated by grinding and poling was evaluated by X-ray diffraction. The crystal orientation in the direction of c axis increased as a result of grinding and poling. It was confirmed that an additional domain switching occurred on the surfaces of ground and poled ceramics. We believe the surface alignment was due to the stress during grinding and that the surface layer is easy to orient in the direction of c axis. The annealing effect of the surface alignment at high temperatures depended on the surface conditions. It was difficult to release the crystal alignment of the ground surface by grinding, even though the annealing temperature was far beyond the Curie point. After depoling the ceramics by annealing, the c axis orientation increased with the aging time. Furthermore, the surface alignment increased greatly from an aging time of 15 days. The increase in the surface orientation was affected by the domain structures of the ceramic bulk. Evaluation of ceramic surfaces is considered to be an effective tool for analyzing the domain structures of PZT thin films.