Low-Temperature Sintering of Bi(Ni 0.5 Ti 0.5 )O 3 -BiFeO 3 -Pb(Zr 0.5 Ti 0.5 )O 3 Ceramics and Their Performance.

A low-temperature sintering strategy was realized for preparing 0.21Bi(Ni 0.5 Ti 0.5 )O 3 -0.05BiFeO 3 -0.74Pb(Zr 0.5 Ti 0.5 )O 3 (0.21BNT-0.05BF-0.74PZT) ceramics by conventional ceramic processing by adding low melting point BiFeO 3 and additional sintering aid LiBO 2 . Pure perovskite 0.21BNT-0.05BF-0.74PZT ceramics are prepared at relatively low sintering temperatures, and their structure presents tetragonal distortion that is affected slightly by the sintering temperature. The 1030 °C sintered samples have high densification accompanied by relatively large grains. All ceramics have excellent dielectric performance with a relatively high temperature of dielectric constant maximum, and present an apparent relaxation characteristic. A narrow sintering temperature range exists in the 0.21BNT-0.05BF-0.74PZT system, and the 1030 °C sintered 0.21BNT-0.05BF-0.74PZT ceramics exhibit overall excellent electrical performance. The high-temperature conductivity can be attributed to the oxygen vacancies' conduction produced by the evaporation of Pb and Bi during sintering revealed by energy dispersive X-ray measurement.