Simultaneous WDXS and EBSD investigations of dense PLZT ceramics

Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) with appropriate standards and precisely adjusted experimental conditions has been successfully applied to an accurate quantitative elemental analysis of the lead–lanthanum–zirconium–titanate (PLZT) ceramics with composition Pb1-3x/2LaxZr0.65Ti0.35O3, where x = 0.08. Heterogeneity tests for Pb, La, Ti and Zr performed on highly dense polycrystalline PLZT ceramics showed relatively large scatter in some data, especially for Ti. To check whether the crystallographic orientations or misorientations of PLZT grains have any potential influence on the chemical composition determined by the wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WDXS), orientation maps have been measured, for exactly same areas as in the WDXS measurements. The measurements of single orientations in the PLZT grains were performed with the use of an electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) facility attached to a low-vacuum scanning electron microscope (LV-SEM). The single orientation maps of the PLZT samples and corresponding WDXS semi-quantitative results for cations concentration distribution are presented and discussed.