Reaction sintering of lead zinc niobate–lead zirconate titanate ceramics

Lead zinc niobate (PZN)–lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics were produced by the reaction-sintering process. The specimens were prepared directly from a mixture of their constituent oxides without any calcination step. When 50% PZN was added to tetragonal Pb(Zr0.47Ti0.53)O3 ceramics, the densities and electrical properties were found to be optimal (ρ = 7.91 g/cm3, K = 1947 at 1 kHz and room temperature, d33 = 530 pC/N, kp = 0.61). However, the specimen containing more than 50% PZN showed reduced density and decreased electrical properties, due to the formation of pyrochlore phases. The improved densification behavior of the reaction-sintering process was attributed to the enhanced diffusion of lattice defects, which were created by differences in the ionic valence of the B-sites ions of the perovskite structure.