Variability of impurity doping in the modified Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 ceramics of type ABO3

The influence of sintering effects on microstructure, mechanical quality factor Qm and electromechanical coupling factor κ of 1 mol% Nb-doped lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoceramics with a composition Zr/Ti=53/47 prepared by the conventional ceramic technology were investigated. Replacement of Ti+4 by Nb+5 in such perovskite type solid solutions was accomplished by the creation of cation vacancies. These created vacancies seemed to facilitate material transport and benefit from sintering. Calcined at 850 °C/2 h and sintered at 1250 °C/2 h, the PZT ceramics had the minimum value of Qm 50 and exhibited maximum electromechanical coupling factor κp 0.62 in accordance with the relationship between mechanical quality factor and electromechanical coupling factor. The measured P–E hysteresis loop illustrated that the remanent polarization (Pr) and coercive field (Ec) were 8.63 μC/cm2 and 17.2 kV/cm, respectively. The fundamental resonance frequency was around 200 kHz, which was suitable for piezoelectric resonator and filter applications.