Solubility and aging of lead magnesium niobate in water

Lead magnesium niobate (PMN) is an important relaxor ferroelectric material commonly employed in multilayer capacitor and actuator manufacturing owing to its high dielectric constant and superior electrostrictive properties. However, stability of this material in water is not very well known and there is need for a detailed investigation. In this research, solubility of lead magnesium niobate powders in water was determined as a function of solids concentration. The obtained results showed that the amount of cation leaching from the PMN surface depends on the pH value of the suspension and the solids concentration. The Pb2+ and Mg2+ ion dissolution was very high especially in the acidic pH range. Nevertheless, neither the dissolution mechanism nor the effects of dissolved ions on the stability were the same for those ions. The study provides new aspects on the solubility of perovskite materials which possess more than one soluble cation in their structure.