Journal of Alloys and Compounds 509 (2011) 6452–6456 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Alloys and Compounds journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jallcom Application of the FITSC method for characterization of PZT-type ceramics with the diffuse phase transition M. Adamczyk a,∗ , L. Kozielski b , A. Lisi ´ nska-Czekaj b , D. Czekaj b a University of Silesia, Institute of Physics, 4, Uniwersytecka St., Katowice 40-007, Poland b University of Silesia, Department of Materials Science, 2, Sniezna St., Sosnowiec 41-200 Poland article info Article history: Received 2 December 2010 Received in revised form 15 March 2011 Accepted 15 March 2011 Available online 22 March 2011 Keywords: Ferroelectric ceramics Diffused phase transition Pyroelectric properties abstract In the present work the (Pb 0.84 Ba 0.16 )(Zr 0.54 Ti 0.46 )O 3 (PBZT 16/54/46) ceramics has been studied from the point of view of its electrical properties. Dielectric properties of PBZT were measured within the temperature range of the ferroelectric-paraelectric (FE-PE) phase transition region. The method of field- induced thermally stimulated currents (FITSC) was applied and thus the thermal relaxation effects were studied. The observed field dependence of thermally stimulated depolarization currents has revealed the existence of different frequency-dependent relaxation processes in the temperature range between 200 and 400 ◦ C. Our experiment demonstrates that modification of ferroelectric materials with isovalent ions, but big- ger radii than the origin atom, significantly affect its properties, particularly the PBZT real part of electrical permittivity shows the phase transition character change from ferroelectric to relaxor and finally, that electrical examination can be effectively used for drawing decisive applications conclusions considering polarization parameters distribution. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Modified lead zirconate titanate (PZT) – type ceramic materials are currently the leading materials for piezoelectric applications due to their unique properties such as higher accuracy, higher response speed, lower power requirements and by contrast to other ceramics both sensing and actuating functions can be realized in this material. It has been widely used for fabricating nonvolatile memory elements, pyroelectric detectors, photoelectric devices and piezoelectric actuators [1,2]. However, pure PZT-type mate- rials are rarely applied in electronic devices. The doping process is usually used to enhance the piezoelectric coefficients of PZT-based materials or solid solutions and to create structures with properties unachievable in single component materials [3]. The (Pb,Ba)(Zr,Ti)O 3 ceramic system is generally thought as a solid solution of the subsystems Pb(Zr,Ti)O 3 and Ba(Zr,Ti)O 3 . Early interest in the PBZT ceramic materials focused on implementation in piezoelectric transducers and actuator applications, due to the high electromechanical coefficients value [4]. The first systematic investigation of the PBZT system [5] enabled to determine the phase diagram and successive measurements of dielectric characteristics and electric field induced strain properties [4,5], not only confirmed the phase diagram, but also showed that properties of this particu- ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 32 2588211x1393; fax: +48 32 2588431. E-mail address: malgorzata.adamczyk-habrajska@us.edu.pl (M. Adamczyk). lar ceramics are typical for relaxor ferroelectrics. These properties were revealed in the PBZT ceramics for ferroelectric phase with the rhombohedral symmetry [6,7] and partially also from the range close to the morphotropic boundary separating the rhombohedral and tetragonal phases [4]. The method of field-induced thermally stimulated current (FITSC) consists of measurements with a definite heating scheme: the currents generated by the buildup and/or the release of polar- ized state in a solid dielectric between two metal electrodes. During the past years the experimental and theoretical develop- ment of FITSC has reached a high level and recently the thermally stimulated depolarization currents technique (TSDC) has been rec- ognized as a method for studying all the fundamental mechanism of charge storage and release in nonmetallic solids. The TSDC became a general method of investigating the electrical properties of high- resistivity solids via the study of thermal relaxation effects. It offers an attractive alternative to the conventional bridge methods or current–voltage–temperature measurements [8,9]. In the present study (Pb 0.84 Ba 0.16 )(Zr 0.54 Ti 0.46 )O 3 (PBZT 16/54/46) ceramics was fabricated by hot-pressing method and its dielectric properties as well as the behavior of the thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) was studied. 2. Experimental Ceramics with the chemical composition (Pb0.84Ba0.16)(Zr0.54Ti0.46)O3 was pre- pared using the conventional mixed-oxide processing technique. Commercially available PbO, ZrO2, TiO2, BaCO3 powders were used as starting materials. Stoichio- 0925-8388/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2011.03.093