Low temperature sintering and piezoelectric properties of 0.6Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3-0.4Pb(Zn1/6Ni1/6Nb1/3)O3 ceramics

The structural change of 0.6Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3-0.4Pb(Zn1/6Ni1/6Nb2/3)O3 (PZTx–PZNN) from rhombohedral to tetragonal is significantly dependent on the ratio of Ti/Zr. PZT0.570–PZNN ceramics exhibit the highest piezoelectric properties (d33 = 661 pC/N, kp = 0.68, and ε33T/ε0 = 3928) as a result of the MPB formation. However, the optimum sintering temperature of this composition is approximately 1200 °C, which restricts the use of pure, cheap metal electrodes in the fabrication of multilayer ceramic actuators. In this study, a low temperature sintering of PZT0.570–PZNN ceramics with the addition of CuO is reported. It is found that the addition of CuO can significantly reduce the sintering temperature to 900 °C. The piezoelectric properties of the 2 mol% CuO-added PZT0.570–PZNN sintered at 900 °C are d33 = 602 pC/N, kp = 0.65, ε33T/ε0 = 3570, and TC = 251 °C.