Effects of milling time and calcination condition on phase formation and particle size of lead zirconate nanopowders prepared by vibro-milling

Effect of calcination conditions on phase formation and particle size of lead zirconate (PbZrO3) powders synthesized by a solid-state reaction with different vibromilling times was investigated. Acombination of the milling time and calcination conditions was found to have a pronounced effect on both the phase formation and particle size of the calcined PbZrO3 powders. The calcination temperature for the formation of single-phase perovskite lead zirconate was lower when longer milling times were applied. The optimal combination of the milling time and calcination condition for the production of the smallest nanosized (~28 nm) high purity PbZrO3 powders is 35 h and 750 Cfor 4 h with heating/cooling rates of 30 C/min, respectively.