Investigation on electrical properties of BCZT ferroelectric ceramics prepared at various sintering conditions

Abstract

The influence of sintering conditions on phase formation, density, microstructure and electrical properties of BCZT ceramics wer investigated. The BCZT (Ba0.85Ca0.075Zr0.1Ti0.9O3) ceramics were fabricated by a mixed oxide synthetic route of BaCO3, CaCO3, ZrO2 and TiO2 precursors and then sintered at 1250, 1300 and 1350°C for 2 and 4 hrs. Phase formation, densification, microstructure surfaces, dielectric properties, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties were analyzed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Archimedes method, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), LCR Meter, P-E hysteresis and d33 meter, respectively. In processes of sintering, the results show that BCZT structures are perovskite with pseudo-cubic phase. Sintering condition at 1300°C for 4 hrs exhibits optimum density, grain size and higher electrical properties: density 5.62 g/cm3 (∼98% of theoretical density), average grain size = 2.19 ± 0.87 µm, dielectric constant (ϵr) = 2840, dielectric loss (tan δ) = 0.10, remanent polarization (Pr) = 5.84 µC/cm2 and d33 = 167 pC/N.