European approach to development of new environmentally sustainable electroceramics

Environmental policy of European Union aims at elimination or reduction of use of chemically hazardous materials and sustainable use of natural resources and waste. 6th Action Programme defines the strategy of managing risks from chemicals and recommends development and use of most efficient technologies. Piezoceramics, with its most common representative, the lead titanate/lead zirconate family (PZT), is in focus and substantial effort has been dedicated to both the development of new lead free materials and improving manufacturing technologies of existing materials in order to obtain better efficiency and reduce the volume of chemical waste. Preliminary results of this work, supported by the 5th Framework Programme Growth will be presented in the paper.