Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 Ceramics Synthesized Using Planetary Ball Mill

Lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3, (PZT) ceramic was successfully prepared from the mixture of commercial PbO, TiO2 and ZrO2 powders using planetary ball mill at room temperature. The phase formation and microstructure of the milled powders were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). XRD results indicated that the perovskite phase of PZT was formed from the mixture of starting materials after milling for 40 h. The grain sizes of the powders have been estimated from the SEM images to be similar to 200 nm. The compacted PZT samples were then sintered at 950 degrees C for 1 h. The samples were characterized by XRD and SEM, meanwhile the density was measured by Archimedes principle. XRD analysis on the sintered samples revealed the formation of single phase Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3 ceramics while the SEM images estimated the grain size to be similar to 2 mu m. The relative density of the obtained sintered PZT ceramics was measured to be approximately 99.93 % of the theoretical density. The results hence indicate that planetary ball mill is an effective preparatory technique to improve the sinterability of PZT ceramics.