Synthesis of Piezoelectric Lead Zirconate Titanate

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Synthesis of Piezoelectric Lead Zirconate Titanate

• Billy Woodford
• DREAM-REU
• Advisor Dr. Wei-Heng Shih
• Mentor Huidong Li

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Outline

• Background
• Intended Research
• Work To Date
• Future Work

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Piezoelectricity

• Piezoelectricity is the ability of certain
  crystals to generate a voltage in response to
  applied mechanical stress1
• 1http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoelectric
• Noncentrosymmetric structure makes this
  piezoelectric
• d33 relates applied force to voltage along the
  parallel axis.

http//www.physikinstrumente.de
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Background

• PZT is a ceramic which can exhibit piezoelectric
  properties
• Conventional Synthesis Method
• Applications of piezoelectrics include
• High-voltage sources
• Sensors
• Actuators
• Frequency Standards
• Piezoelectric Motors

PbO xZrO2 (1-x)TiO2 Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3
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Intended Research

• Examine existing synthesis procedures
• Develop new method of synthesis to promote more
  intimate mixing
• Compare PZT samples synthesized by each method
• Use best-possible PZT to tape-cast free standing
  thick-films, then characterize

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Coating Method
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Improved Coating Method
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Properties of Interest

• Density
• Bulk, Apparent, Relative
• Dielectric Properties
• Dielectric Constant, Dielectric Loss
• Piezoelectric Properties
• d33 Constant

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Washed vs. Unwashed

• Washing found to
• Decrease density
• Decrease dielectric constant
• Decrease d33 constant
• Promote Pyrrochlore phase impurity

Top Unwashed Samples Bottom Washed Samples
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Density Comparison
Apparent densities in g/cm3 800C 900C 1000C
Method 1 N/A 7.91 7.92
Method 2 8.17 7.59 7.93
Method 3 TBD TBD TBD

• Theoretical Density of perovskite PZT is 7.9 g/cm3

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Future Work

• Determine heat treatment for Method 3 procedure
  using Thermal Gravometric Analysis (TGA)
• Compare properties across synthesis methods and
  sintering temperatures
• Develop a procedure to tape-cast freestanding
  thick-film PZT

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Acknowledgements

• Dr. Wei-Heng Shih
• Huidong Li
• DREAM-REU
• Ceramics Processing and Sensor Group