Pure and barium doped lead zirconate titanate powders were obtained by the polymeric precursor method, uniaxially conformed in cylinders form using 15 MPa and pressing isostatically at 210 MPa. In order to study the sintering behaviour, the compacts were divided in two parts. One part was sintered in a dilatometer furnace till 1300 °C and the other one sintered in muffle furnace in the temperature of 1100 °C for 4 hours. It was verified that the addition of barium influences on the sintering kinetics, on the final density, microstructure and electric properties of the ceramics. The addition of barium increases the concentration of the tetragonal phase of PZT due to the substitution of lead by barium in the perovskite lattice. The samples doped with barium concentrations higher than 5.0 mol % leads to the segregation of PbO in the grain boundary, inhibiting grain growth.
perovskite; sintering; PZT; piezoelectricity
