Perovskite phase formation and ferroelectric properties of the lead nickel niobate-lead zinc niobate-lead zirconate titanate ternary system.

The ternary system of lead nickel niobate Pb(Ni[sub1/3]Nb[sub2/3])O[sub3] (PNN), lead zinc niobate pb(Zn[sub1/3]Nb[sub2/3])O[sub3] (PZN), and lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr[sub1/2]Ti[sub1/2])O[sub3] (PZT) was investigated to determine the influence of different solid state processing conditions on dielectric and ferroelectric properties. The ceramic materials were characterized using x-ray diffraction, dielectric measurements, and hysteresis measurements. To stabilize the perovskite phase, the columbite route was utilized with a double crucible technique and excess PbO. The phase-pure perovskite phase of PNN-PZN-PZT ceramics was obtained over a wide compositional range. It was observed that for the ternary system 0.5PNN-(0.5 - x)PZN-xPZT, the change in the transition temperature (T[subm]) is approximately linear with respect to the PZT content in the range x = 0 to 0.5. With an increase in x, T[subm] shifts up to high temperatures. Examination of the remanent polarization (Pr) revealed a significant increase with increasing x. In addition, the relative permittivity (ε[subr]) increased as a function of x. The highest permittivities (ε[subr] = 22,000) and the highest remanent polarization (P[subr] = 25 μC/cm²) were recorded for the binary composition 0.5Pb(Ni[sub1/3]Nb[sub2/3])O[sub3]-0.5Pb(Zr[sub1/2]Ti[sub1/2])O[sub3]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]