Investigation of high frequency (2.45 GHz, 30 GHz) sintering of Pb-based ferroelectrics

Microwave sintering of Pb(Zr, Ti) O-3, PZT, based ceramics was investigated using multimode heating at 2.45 GHz and 30 GHz and compared to conventional thermal processing. For both PZT-5 and PZT-5H soft piezoelectric ceramics, microwave processing resulted in a reduction of sintering temperature by more than 150 K. Of significance to the production of high surface area lead-based components, minimal PbO volatility was detected for samples processed as high as 1200degreesC. In contrast to conventionally processed PZTs, minimal grain size dependency of the dielectric and piezoelectric properties was observed.