Thermal expansion in lead zirconate titanate

The volume anomalies with temperature variations in tin-modified lead zirconate titanate ceramics are investigated. Experimental results show that the volume changes are related to the phase transitions induced with temperature. The magnitude and orientation of crystal volume changes are dependent on the particular phase transition. When antiferroelectrics is transformed to ferroelectrics or paraelectrics the volume expands. Oppositely when ferroelectrics is transformed to antiferroelectrics or paraelectrics the volume contracts. In the transition of antiferroelectric orthorhombic structure to tetragonal structure or ferroelectric low-temperature rhombohedral structure to high-temperature rhombohedral structure, there are also revealed apparent anomalies in the curves of thermal expansion. Among them, the volume strain caused by the transition between antiferroelectrics and ferroelectrics is the biggest in magnitude, and the linear expansion dL/L₀ and the expansion coefficient (dL/L₀)/dT can reach 2.8×10^-3 and 7.5 × 10^-4 K^-1 respectively.