Phase formation, microstructure and electrical properties of Ba0.9Ca0.1TiO3 ceramics fabricated via the solid-state combustion technique

Abstract In this research, the effects of calcination temperature in a range of 1050–1200 °C for 2 h and sintering temperature in a range of 1325-1400 °C for 2 h on phase formation, microstructure and electrical properties of lead-free Ba0.9Ca0.1TiO3 (BCT) ceramics fabricated via the solid-state combustion technique were investigated. For the XRD result, all the ceramics exhibited a coexisting phase between tetragonal and orthorhombic. The ceramic grain size tended to increase with increase of the sintering temperature. For BCT ceramic produced by the optimum sintering temperature (1375 °C for 2 h), the dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of ε C=7393, P r=7.60 μC/cm2 , E C=5.99 kV/cm and d 33=158 pC/N, respectively, were obtained.