Electrical, Electromechanical and Structural Studies on Solid Solution Ceramic Pb(Fe_1/2Nb_1/2)O₃–Pb(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃

Abstract

Binary solid solutions of the system x Pb(Fe 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O 3 –(1- x ) Pb(Zn 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 were synthesized by the conventional ceramic process, where the constituent Pb(Zn 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 ceramic is not ferroelectric, having a pyrochlore structure. For highly dense ceramic specimens with varying compositions, various physical properties were investigated. As a result, structural conversion from the pyrochlore to the perovskite phase was found to occur in the range of x >0.1. Properties such as dielectric constant and remanent polarization also exhibited anomalies corresponding to the structural change. Maximum electromechanical factors k P =0.26 and k 33 =0.44, and remanent polarization P r =11.8 µC/cm 2 were obtained for the composition x =0.4.