Low temperature synthesis and dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric study of microwave sintered BaTiO3 ceramics

Barium titanate (BaTiO3/BT) ferroelectric system was synthesized in single perovskite phase at low temperature by using powders derived from modified solid state reaction (MSSR) and sintered by microwave (MW) processing routes. Conventional calcination temperature was optimized at 900 degrees C for 4 h. MW sintering of BT samples was carried out at 1100 degrees C for 30 min to get dense (98% density) ceramics. Room temperature (RT) dielectric constant (epsilon(r)) and dielectric loss (tan delta) at 1 kHz frequency of MW sintered BT samples was found to be similar to 2500 and 0.03, respectively. Saturated polarization vs. electric field (P-E) loops with remnant polarization (P-r)similar to 6 mu C/cm(2) and coercive field (E-c) similar to 1.45 kV/cm confirmed the ferroelectric nature of MW sintered BT samples. Piezoelectric coefficient from strain vs. electric field (S-E) loops study was found to be 335 pm/V. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.