Effect of Fe and Fe-Ba substitution on the piezoelectric and dielectric properties of lead zirconate titanate ceramics

Polycrystalline samples of Fe and Fe-Ba doped lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics near the morphotrophic phase boundary have been synthesized by a solid-state reaction technique. Preliminary X-ray analysis of the compound confirms that there is no change in the crystal structure of PZT on co-doping with Fe and Ba. The maximum mechanical quality factor Qm was found to be 1000 for Fe doped material and 880 for Fe-Ba doped material. The electromechanical coupling factor for Fe and Fe-Ba doped samples were 0.535 and 0.495 respectively. The corresponding values for the piezoelectric charge constant d33 were 135 and 250 pC/N respectively. These results are discussed in terms of position occupied by dopants in to the lattice and their corresponding microstructures. These Fe-Ba doped PZT materials could be likely candidates for high power ultrasonic and underwater SONAR transducer systems.