A microstructural study of porous piezoelectric ceramics obtained by different methods

Piezoelectric porous lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics prepared by different methods have been examined from a microstructural point of view. The effect of polymer volume and properties and sintering temperature on microstructure of samples and on their physical properties has been investigated. The wide range of pore volumes and pore size distributions was obtained by three different procedures: (a) reduction of the sintering temperature of the die pressed PZT samples: (b) use of a different forming technique like tape casting, starting from slurries with high volume of organic content; (c) addition of different volume concentrations of organic polymer to the PZT powder. It has been found that varying process parameters like quantity of polymer and sintering temperature changes both final porosity as well as pore size distribution, introducing dispersion in physical property values. The differences between the microstructural aspect of samples prepared by different methods and their influence on the physical properties of the samples are presented and discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.