The effect of the electrode plating on the mechanical properties of PZT ceramics was studied experimentally. In this study, three different electrode plating were employed, e.g., Ni-, Ag- and Au-based metals, which were attached to the PZT ceramics by different process: Ag metal particles were coated on to the PZT surfaces, and the coated metal was fired in the atmosphere at 973K for several hours. The nickel-based electrode plating was attached by the electroless nickel plating method at 363K. The gold-based electrode plating was attached by the physical vapour deposition under sputter gas consisting of air at low pressure. The bending strength of the Ni sample was about 108 MPa, which was approximately 10% and 52% higher than those for the Ag and Au samples, respectively. The fatigue strength for the Ni sample was high compared to the Ag and Au ones. The mean endurance limits at 10⁵ cycles for the Ni sample was about 30.7 MPa, which was about 25% higher than the other ones. The different mechanical properties were apparently attributed to the electrode roughness, arising from the different electrode plating process, where the following equation was obtained: (bending strength)  (roughness) + 139.3 (MPa).

PZT ceramic, electrode plating, mechanical properties, surface roughness.