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 °C for 4 h. MW sintering of BT samples was carried out at 1100 °C for 30 min to get dense (98% density) ceramics. Room temperature (RT) dielectric constant (ɛr) and dielectric loss (tan δ) at 1 kHz frequency of MW sintered BT samples was found to be ∼2500 and 0.03, respectively. Saturated polarization vs. electric field (P–E) loops with remnant polarization (Pr) ∼6 μC/cm2 and coercive field (Ec) ∼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.