Effects of sintering temperature on microstructure and electrical properties of 0.9Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.1PbTiO3 modified with CuO

• The grain size significantly increased with sintering temperature of 1050 °C.
• Dielectric constant reached to the highest with sintering temperature of 1050 °C.
• Ferroelectric properties were improved with sintering temperature of 1050 °C.
• The optimum sintering temperature for the PMNT/1wt%CuO ceramic is 1050 °C.

The structural, dielectric and ferroelectric properties of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.9Ti0.1O3 (PMNT) ceramics prepared with CuO as a sintering aid at various sintering temperatures between 950 °C and 1150 °C are investigated. The lattice parameters slightly increase with the sintering temperature >1050 °C. A significant increase in the grain size is observed when the sintering temperature is increased from 1000 °C to 1050 °C. The maximum dielectric constant reaches the highest value of ∼22,000 for the ceramic sintered at 1050 °C. For the ceramics sintered at >1050 °C, the temperature of maximum dielectric constant and the diffuseness parameters tend to increase with the increasing sintering temperature. The optimal sintering temperature for this ceramic is 1050 °C, which displays significant improvements in ferroelectric properties at room temperature, i.e. the increase in the remanent polarization and the ferroelectric loop squareness.