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

Issue Title: Special Issue: ICE-2005 International Conference on Electroceramics This study examined the effect of spark plasma sintering (SPS) on the densification behavior and resulting dielectric and piezoelectric properties of Pb(Mg^sub 1/3^Nb^sub 2/3^)O^sub 3^-35 mol% PbTiO^sub 3^ ceramics with a 5 mol% excess of PbO. Through normal sintering at 1200^sup ^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^sup ^C, and maintained over 98% of the TD during subsequent heat-treatment at 1200^sup ^C for 10 h. The increased density of the Pb(Mg^sub 1/3^Nb^sub 2/3^)O^sub 3^-35 mol% PbTiO^sub 3^ 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 BaTiO^sub 3^ seed crystal using a solid-state crystal growth (SSCG) process.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]