Quantitative Microanalysis of (1-x)Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))O3×xPbTiO3 (PMNT) Ferroelectric Ceramics.
Optimized quantitative electron-probe microanalysis was applied for compositional characterization of a ferroelectric ceramic single crystal that was made from the complex perovskite-type solid-solution (1-x)Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))O3×xPbTiO3 (PMNT). Cation concentrations were determined with high accuracy and ultimate relative experimental uncertainty of ≤±1%, showing that the average chemical composition of the crystal corresponds to Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))(0.67)Ti(0.33)O3 (i.e., x=0.33), which is close to the morphotropic phase boundary composition. Over the PMNT single crystal slight compositional heterogeneity was measured for concentrations of the perovskite B-site cations Ti4+, Mg2+, and Nb5+, with variations up to ±2.3%, whereas the Pb concentration remained uniform within a variation below ±0.5%.
Jožef Stefan Institute,Department for Nanostructured Materials,Jamova cesta 39,SI-1000 Ljubljana,Slovenia.
Zoran
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Samardžija
PMNT; WDS; compositional heterogeneity; ferroelectrics; quantitative microanalysis