Microstructural and piezoelectric properties of low temperature sintering PMN-PZT ceramics with the amount of Li2CO3 addition

PMN-PZT ceramics doped with Li2CO3 and Bi2O3 as sintering aids were manufactured in order to develop the low temperature sintering ceramics for multilayer piezoelectric transformer, and their micro structural, dielectric and piezoelectric properties were investigated. The sintering aids were proved to lower the sintering temperature of doped PMN-PZT ceramics due to the effect of LiBiO2 liquid phase. Optimal values for multilayer piezoelectric transformer application, such as electromechanical coupling factor (kp) of 0.50, mechanical quality factor (Qm) of 2264, and dielectric constant (K) of 1216, and curie temperature (Tc) of 317 °C were found at 0.1 wt.% Li2CO3 added ceramics sintered at 940 °C.