Laser sintered ceramic coatings of PZT nanoparticles deposited by Inkjet Printing on metallic and ceramic substrates

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 is one of the most studied perovskite type ferroelectric materials due to its excellent dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties. PZT particles and a PZT precursor were synthesized using a chemical method. A vehicle was added to the synthesized particles and precursor for obtaining two inks with appropriate rheological properties to be printed by Inkjet Printing. The use of an 80 µm diameter nozzle made necessary the utilization of an energetic ball milling for assuring the dispersion of small PZT particles in the ink. After ball milling nanoparticles of 150 nm diameter were obtained. These inks were deposited on alumina and steel substrates followed by sintering using a pulsed laser of 1064 nm wavelength. The work shows the effect laser sintering has on, both inks, the one containing PZT nanoparticles and that one based on the PZT precursor. Laser processing was optimized in order to generate suitable films to be subsequently poled. The effect of poling on these films was also studied and their piezoelectric properties were measured by a compression test. The microstructural characteristics of these films were obtained by SEM and X ray diffractometry.