Dielectric, ferroelectric and mechanical Properties of Microwave Sintered Bi based High temperature Piezoelectric Ceramics

The sintering of advanced ceramics requires fast heating in order to avoid both grain growth and inter diffusion. In this context, the microwave sintering is a powerful method since it enables sintering in a short time. This paper reports the synthesis and characterization of Strontium Bismuth Titanate (SBTi) system. The material powder was prepared by solid state route and sintering was carried out by both conventional and microwave furnaces. Morphological, dielectric, ferroelectric and mechanical properties were studied for both samples. The dielectric constant and loss tangent of the conventional and microwave sintered samples have ranged between (185-195) and (0.005-0.007) and (195-220) and (0.004-0.006) respectively when measured at 1MHz frequency. The microwave sintering of the SBTi ceramics leads to higher densification (97% of the theoretical density), fine microstructure, and good mechanical and ferroelectric properties in much shorter duration of time compared to that of the conventional sintering process.