Structural and electrical properties of 0.57PSN–0.43PT ceramics prepared by mechanochemical synthesis and sintered at low temperature

In this investigation we show that the dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of stoichiometric 0.57Pb(Sc 1/2Nb 1/2)O 3–0.43PbTiO 3 (0.57PSN–0.43PT) ceramics prepared by mechanochemical synthesis are comparable or even better than the properties of 0.57PSN–0.43PT ceramics with Nb doping, which was proposed to enhance the electrical properties. Here, the stoichiometric ceramic was sintered to 97% of theoretical density at a temperature of 1000 °C, which is 200–300 °C lower than previously reported. The dielectric constant ɛ, remnant polarization P r, piezoelectric coefficient d 33, coupling coefficients k p and k t and mechanical quality factor Q m of the ceramics prepared by mechanochemical synthesis were 2200, 43 μC/cm 2, 570 pC/N, 0.71, 0.56 and 38, respectively. The effects of the poling field on the structural and electrical properties of the 0.57PSN–0.43PT ceramics were investigated. The results show that the ratio of the monoclinic to the tetragonal phases is influenced by the application of the poling electric field. The non-poled ceramics contain 71% of the monoclinic phase and 29% of the tetragonal phase. The highest d 33, k p and k t were measured for ceramics poled at an electric field of 3 kV/mm. For these poled ceramics a phase determination of 86% monoclinic phase and 14% tetragonal phase was obtained from Rietveld refinements.