Low temperature sintering of PZT ceramics without additives via an ordinary ceramic route

Low temperature sintering of PZT ceramics without additives was investigated using a fine powder obtained by the ordinary ball milling process. The starting commercial PZT ceramic powder with the composition of Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 of average grain size of 0.5 μm is effectively ground in a ball mill using zirconia balls of 3 mm in diameter in isopropyl alcohol containing an organic surfactant. Its particle size reaches less than 0.2 μm after 48 h grinding. It is dried, added with a PVB binder, pressed, and sintered in air for 2 h from 950 °C to 1200 °C. The bulk density and dielectric constant of the PZT ceramics sintered at 1000 °C reach 7.85 g/cm3 and 1566, respectively, sufficiently high for industrial applications. PZT ceramics sintered at 1000 °C and those sintered at 1100 °C exhibited electromechanical coupling factors (kp) of 60% and 69%, respectively.