Dielectric and Piezoelectric Properties of Praseodymium Modified Lead Zirconate Titanate Ceramics

Praseodymium (Pr) modified lead zirconate titanate ceramics (Pb1-1.5xPrx (ZryTi1-y) O3 with x = 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08 and y = 0.51, 0.52, 0.54, 0.56, 0.58, 0.60) were prepared by the high temperature solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results show that the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) of Pb0.955Pr0.03(ZryTi1-y)O3 (PPZT1) is located in the area where the molar fraction of Zr is near 55%, when the molar fraction of Zr is 54% and the sintering temperature is 1240°C with 1h curing time, the superior piezoelectric properties of compositions of PPZT1 system were optimized, a set of d33 = 420 pC/N; eT 33/e0 = 2,000; Tc = 314°C; Qm = 76; tand = 2% and kp = 0.53. On the other hand, Pb1-1.5xPrx(Zr0.54Ti0.46)O3 (PPZT2) is far from MPB and their compositions are all in tetragonal phase.