Specific heat of a ferroelectric PZT ceramic at the morphotropic phase boundary

Abstract

Ferroelectric ceramic materials have a wide range of applications because of their piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties. One of their most important physical properties is the specific heat. In this study, the specific heats of a series of lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) compositions in the vicinity of the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) were measured. The temperature range was from 1.8 to 300 K. It is believed that these are the lowest temperature measurements ever made on PZT. Differences between the specific heats of the different compositions were very small. However, the calculated Debye temperatures were slightly different. The results are useful in computing design parameters for technical devices.