Abstract
The mechanochemical (MC) synthesis of La-modified lead zirconate titanate (PLZT) powder from the constituent oxides was conducted using a planetary ball milling. A single-phase perovskite PLZT powder was synthesized by dry-milling of the oxide mixture for a relatively short period (36ks at a rotational speed of 400r.p.m.). Dense PLZT bulk samples with fine-grained microstructures were obtained even from powders subjected to MC for a short time (3.6ks), at lower sintering temperature than the powders prepared by the conventional wet-mixing process. The present study suggests that the mechanochemical synthesis of PLZT consists of the following three stages: First, the pulverization, intimate mixing and granulation of the starting powders occur at the early stage. Secondly, the crystallites of the powders were increasingly disordered due to the impact of the milling balls. Finally, the reaction between PbO and TiO2 was activated to produce PbTiO3, and (Pb, La) (Zr, Ti)O3 solid solutions were formed by the reaction between PbTiO3 and the remaining oxides.
