Lead zinc niobate (PZN)–barium titanate (BT) ceramics from mechanochemically synthesized powders

Nanosized PZN–BT powders were synthesized directly from their constituent component oxide mixture via a high-energy ball milling process. XRD patterns showed that perovskite phase could be formed after milling for 5 h, while single phase perovskite was achieved when the milling was prolonged for 12 h. Further increase in milling time (20 h) led to the formation of pyrochlore phase. PZN–BT ceramics were obtained by sintering the milled powders at temperatures from 1000 to 1100°C for 1 h. The 1100°C-sintered PZN–BT samples derived from the 12 h milled powders have a density of ∼99% of the theoretical density with an average grain size of about 4 μm, a dielectric constant of 2300 and a dielectric loss of 0.03, being in good agreement with the reported results for PZN–BT prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction process.