Microwave-assisted sintering of non-stoichiometric strontium bismuth niobate ceramic: Structural and dielectric properties

In recent years the microwave sintering has been utilized for the synthesis of materials in enhancement of the properties. In this paper strontium bismuth niobate (Sr0.8Bi2.2Nb2O9:SBN) bulk ceramic has been synthesized by microwave reactive sintering and conventional heating techniques. A relative density of 99.6% has been achieved for microwave sintered SBN, which is higher than that of (98.81%) conventionally sintered SBN. The phase formation of SBN synthesized by both processes has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The surface morphology of SBN was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The microstructure was found to be more uniform in case of SBN sintered by microwave sintering. The dielectric properties of SBN were studied as a function of frequency in the temperature range of 30-500 degrees C. Both the samples synthesized by two different processes were found to follow Curie Weiss law above the transition temperature. The Curie temperature was found to be higher for microwave sintered SBN. The dielectric constant and the transition temperature were observed to be higher for SBN ceramic synthesized by microwave sintering technique. The ac and dc activation energy values were also found to be higher for microwave sintered SBN as compared to conventional sintering technique. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.