Effects of magnesium niobate precursor and calcination condition on phase formation and morphology of lead magnesium niobate powders

• Main Authors: Wongmaneerung R., Sarakonsri T., Yimnirun R., Ananta S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-33746636844&partnerID=40&md5=f08b81dee3d3c7b8c44d9cca74bf6ea3; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/handle/6653943832/5090
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

A perovskite phase of lead magnesium niobate, Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 or PMN, powders has been synthesized by a rapid vibro-milling technique. Both columbite MgNb2O6 and corundum Mg4Nb2O9 have been employed as magnesium niobate precursors, with the formation of the PMN phase investigated as a function of calcination conditions by thermal gravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The particle size distribution of the calcined powders was determined by laser diffraction technique. Morphology, crystal structure and phase composition have been determined via a combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques. The magnesium niobate precursor and calcination condition have been found to have a pronounced effect on the phase and morphology evolution of the calcined PMN powders. It is seen that optimisation of calcination conditions can lead to a single-phase PMN in both methods. However, the formation temperature and dwell time for single-phase PMN powders were lower for the synthetic method employing a columbite MgNb2O6 precursor. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.