Effects of microwave sintering on the properties of 0.87(Mg0.7Zn0.3)TiO3-0.13(Ca0.61La0.26)TiO3 ceramics

0.87(Mg0.7Zn0.3)TiO3-0.13(Ca0.61La0.26)TiO3 (referred to as 87MZCLT) ceramics were prepared by microwave sintering and conventional sintering. The experimental results demonstrated that the sintering cycle of 87MZCLT ceramics was greatly shortened and the impurity phase (Mg0.7Zn0.3)Ti2O5 was eliminated by microwave sintering. Moreover, the 87MZCLT ceramics prepared by microwave sintering show more uniform, fine-grained microstructure as well as much less Zn evaporation. As a result, the quality factor was increased by 40% compared with conventional sintering. All samples were sintered at 1275 degrees C for 20 min with heating and cooling rate of 15 degrees C/min and gave excellent microwave dielectric properties: epsilon(r) = 26.21, Q x f = 120,000 GHz, tau(f) = 3 ppm/degrees C. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.