Lead Zirconate Titanate-Magnetoplumbite Composites: A First Step Toward Multiferroic Ceramics?

When lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is acceptor doped way above the solubility limit of Fe3+, crystalline secondary phases become thermodynamically stable that are antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic, i.e., plumboferrite, PbFe4O7, and magnetoplumbite (MP), PbFe12O19, respectively. Three materials were studied by X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy, with 3 mol% Fe (B-site) and high volume fractions of iron, which corresponds to a 1.5 and 6 mol% of MP addition, with emphasis placed on the phase and microstructure evolution, depending on the dopant level. Although the addition of the high iron content resulted in the formation of the desired ferromagnetic phase MP, homogeneously dispersed within the PZT host matrix, the densification kinetics became quite sluggish, resulting in rather porous multiferroic ceramics