Lead zirconate titanate ceramics achieved by reaction sintering of PbO and high-energy ball milled (ZrTi)O₂ nanosized powders

Lead zirconate titanate [Pb(Zr_xTi_1-x)O₃ or PZT, x=0.40, 0.48, 0.52 and 0.56] ceramics were prepared via a one-step reaction sintering of PbO and (Zr_xTi_1-x)O₂ powders at a temperature lower than that required in the conventional process. The (Zr_xTi_1-x)O₂ powders with nanometer grain size were synthesized by a high-energy ball milling process at room temperature. The final PZT mixture systems demonstrate a reaction temperature of 720-750 °C and a maximum sintering rate temperature of 800-830 °C, both of which are much lower than that observed from the conventional solid-state reaction process for PZT ceramics. In the present work, the 1100 °C-sintered Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃ ceramics formed possess a dielectric constant of 1126, a remnant polarization of 22 μC/cm² and a coercive field of 12.6 kV/cm. These values are in good agreement with that widely reported for PZT ceramics. The results hence indicate that the sintering reaction process in the present work is practical for PZT processing and may be applicable to other Pb containing multi-component ceramic materials.