Effect of Fe and Fe–Ba substitution on the piezoelectric and dielectric properties of lead zirconate titanate ceramics

Polycrystalline samples of Fe and Fe–Ba doped lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics near the morphotrophic phase boundary have been synthesized by a solid-state reaction technique. Preliminary X-ray analysis of the compound confirms that there is no change in the crystal structure of PZT on co-doping with Fe and Ba. The maximum mechanical quality factor Qm was found to be 1000 for Fe doped material and 880 for Fe–Ba doped material. The electromechanical coupling factor for Fe and Fe–Ba doped samples were 0.535 and 0.495 respectively. The corresponding values for the piezoelectric charge constant d33 were 135 and 250 pC/N respectively. These results are discussed in terms of position occupied by dopants in to the lattice and their corresponding microstructures. These Fe–Ba doped PZT materials could be likely candidates for high power ultrasonic and underwater SONAR transducer systems.