Domain Morphology and Piezoelectric Properties of Si-doped PMS-PZT Piezoelectric Ceramics Affected by Grain Boundary Action

The microstructure, phase properties and domain morphology of Si-doped PMS-PZT ceramics were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). XRD results indicate that all specimens show perovskite structure and tetragonal distortion (c/a) increases as the dopant content increases. TEM results show that domain morphology evolves from the normal herringbone domain to micron-sized lenticular shape domain structure, and finally changes to wavy pattern as Si02 content changes from 0-1wt%. The nano-scale secondary phases of SiO2 and PbSiO3 were observed on the grain boundary, and the twinned ZrO2 was found surrounded by PMS-PZT perovskite phase. The mechanism of the appearance of twinned ZrO2 and its content increase with the increase of Si concentration were discussed.