Influence of the sintering conditions on the properties of 0.57PSN-0.43PT ceramics prepared from mechanochemically activated powder

The present work is a systematic study of the influence of the sintering conditions on the structural and electrical properties of 0.57Pb(Sc1/2Nb1/2)O3-0.43PbTiO3 ceramics prepared from mechanochemically activated powder. The ceramics were sintered at various temperatures and for a range of times. Three or even more contributions competed for influence on the functional properties of the ceramics, i.e., the density, the grain size and the phase composition. However, all these contributions combined in such a way that the best functional properties were obtained for the ceramics sintered at 1000 °C for 8 h.