Effect of barium on the structure and dielectric properties of multicomponent ceramics based on ferroelectric relaxors

High-density ceramic samples of mPb(Mg1/3Nb2/3) · yPb(Zn1/3Nb2/3) · nPb(Ni1/3Nb2/3) · xPbTiO3 (m = 0.4541, y = 0.0982, n = 0.1477, x = 0.3) solid solutions, unmodified and barium-modified, with the composition lying in a morphotropic phase region, have been prepared by a conventional ceramic processing technique. We demonstrate that barium substitution for 5% of the lead on the A site allows one to obtain ceramics containing no pyrochlore phase. Modification with barium shifts the solid solution from the morphotropic to a tetragonal phase region. In addition, barium doping increases the average grain size of the ceramic from 2–3 to 3–4 μm and changes the type of fracture from intergranular to mixed (intergranular and transgranular). Modification with barium increases the relative dielectric permittivity ɛ/ɛ0 (at E = 0) of the material by more than a factor of 2 (from 4300 to 9100). We conclude that materials based on the ceramics studied can find practical application and examine ways of further improving their piezoelectric performance.