THE EFFECTS OF THE HOMOGENEITY OF NONCRYSTALLINE PB-TI-O GELS ON THE COMPLEX THERMAL-PROCESSES LEADING TO PBTIO3 FORMATION

The effects of the homogeneity of precursor non-crystalline Pb-Ti-O gels on their transformation to crystalline PbTiO3 were studied. Hydrous gels were prepared via two different routes, i.e., (i) mixing two unitary sols (MS), and (ii) co-precipitation (CP). Mechanical pretreatment was also carried out, primarily for the purpose of homogenization. The local homogeneity was evaluated by elementary microanalysis using a transmission electron microscope. The process of ball-milling the MS gel for 3 h improved its homogeneity only slightly. However, the homogeneity of the ball-milled MS gel suddenly increased to that of the CP gel on subsequent heating to a temperature as low as 483 K. This type of thermal homogenization was not observed for the unground MS gel. The evaporation of lead monoxide on further heating to 1023 K was also suppressed by preliminary ball-milling. All these results suggest that the ionic migration and the formation of Pb-O-Ti bonds in the gels take place during the mechanical activation with the aid of OH groups.