Fabrication of Transparent Lead Lanthanum Zirconate Titanate Ceramics from Fine Powders by Two-Stage Sintering

Transparent lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT) ceramics were fabricated from fine powders using an inexpensive two‐stage sintering technique. The powders were prepared by hydrolysis from low‐cost inorganic precursors. In the two‐stage sintering method, uniaxially pressed green pellets were densified to nearly theoretical values in an oxygen gas atmosphere during the first‐stage sintering, at 1000°C for 1 h, and then residual, free lead oxide in the pellets was removed by second‐stage sintering at 1100°C for 12 h. Transparent ceramic with an average grain size of 1.6 μm and a porosity of 1.3% was obtained. The transparency and dielectric characteristics of the present samples were compared with those of hot‐pressed samples: The study of the polarization–field hysteresis loops of the present samples yielded a remanent polarization of 6.8 μC/m2 and a coercive field of 1.6 kV/cm. The low coercive field of PLZT ceramics could potentially reduce the driving voltage of electrooptic devices in many applications.