Microstructural characteristics and electrical properties of xPb(Mg1/3Ta2/3)O3–(0.1 − x)Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3–0.9Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 high power piezoelectric ceramics

The quaternary piezoelectric ceramics of Pb(Mg1/3Ta2/3)O3–Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3–Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PMgT–PMnS–PZT) were synthesized with a conventional method. The phase, microstructure, ferroelectric, dielectric and piezoelectric properties were studied in terms of PMgT content. The results indicate that all ceramics have a pure perovskite phase of tetragonal symmetry while the c/a ratio increases with PMgT content. The PMgT substitution also promotes the densification of the ceramics without significant grain growth when no more than 5 mol.%. The spontaneous polarization Ps increases consistently as revealed by the enhanced tetragonality, whereas the coercive field Ec, which is affected by the internal dipolar field, reaches a minimum at 3 mol.%. When no more than 5 mol.% PMgT is introduced, both the soft and hard properties can be improved simultaneously. However, further introduction of PMgT in place of PMnS induces a rapid decrease in Qm and increase in tan δ  . The 0.05PMgT–0.05PMnS–0.9PZT ceramics have the optimal overall performance: ε33T=683, tanδ = 0.3%, d33 = 227 pC/N, kp = 0.55, Qm = 1830. The ceramics are promising candidates for high power resonant actuator applications.