Application of spark plasma sintering for growing dense Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–35 mol% PbTiO3 single crystal by solid-state crystal growth

This study examined the effect of spark plasma sintering (SPS) on the densification behavior and resulting dielectric and piezoelectric properties of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–35 mol% PbTiO3 ceramics with a 5 mol% excess of PbO. Through normal sintering at 1200∘C, the density of the specimen reached only 92% of the theoretical density (TD). However, with the SPS treatment, the density of the PMN-PT ceramics increased to more than 99% of the TD at 900∘C, and maintained over 98% of the TD during subsequent heat-treatment at 1200∘C for 10 h. The increased density of the Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–35 mol% PbTiO3 ceramics resulted in an improvement in the dielectric and piezoelectric properties. The SPS treatment was also successfully applied to the densification of a PMN-PT single crystal grown on a BaTiO3 seed crystal using a solid-state crystal growth (SSCG) process.