Preparation and characterization of pyrochlore-free 0.655Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.345PbTiO3 piezoelectric ceramics by tape-casting process

Piezoelectric ceramics of the perovskite solid solution 0.655Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.345PbTiO3 (0.655PMN-0.345PT) were synthesized by tape-casting process. Highly dense ceramics lacking parasitic pyrochlore phases were fabricated by using precursor method and adding moderate PbO. The influences from sintering temperature on the physical and electrical properties of the 0.655PMN-0.345PT ceramics were initially investigated by phase and microstructure analyses. High piezoelectric, dielectric and ferroelectric properties of d33=700 pC/N, kp=0.605, εr=4770, tanδ = 0.016, Pr=30.68 μC/cm2 were obtained for the specimens sintered at 1200 °C. Compared with the traditional solid-state sintering method, the performance of ceramics formed by tape-casting achieved an improvement.