Co-firing of PZN-PZT/Ag multilayer actuator prepared by tape-casting method

A large-area multilayer ceramic actuator composed of piezoelectrically active Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)0.2(Zr1/2Ti1/2)0.8 (PZN-PZT) layers and silver metal layers was fabricated by the tape-casting method. Low-temperature sinterable PZN-PZT ceramics were used as piezoelectric layers, and silver paste containing PZN-PZT ceramic frits was used as conductive inner-electrode layers. PZN-PZT powder was prepared by conventional mechanical mixing of the raw powders in ethanol. The green sheet was fabricated using methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) as a solvent, polyvinyl butyral (PVB) as a binder, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) as a plasticizer, and KD-1 as a dispersant. Silver inner-electrode containing ceramic frits was pasted on the green-tape sheets and the sheets were stacked, warm-pressed, and sintered at 900 °C for 4 h after burn-out. The thickness of the piezoelectric and electrode layers was about 120 and 20 μm, respectively. The electrical properties and piezoelectric displacement of the actuator were characterized.