A comparative study of structural and electrical properties of Ba0.8Pb0.2TiO3 nanocrystalline ceramics prepared by microwave and spark plasma sintering

•BPT nanocrystalline ceramics were synthesized by SPS and microwave sintering.•Dielectric constant at Tc is ∼6000 higher for the SPS sample than for the microwave one.•Remnant polarization value is 2 times larger for the SPS sample than for the microwave one.

The barium lead titanate (Ba0.8Pb0.2TiO3, termed BPT) ferroelectric ceramics were prepared using microwave sintering and spark plasma sintering (SPS) techniques. The formation of single phase was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The SPS-prepared BPT ceramics exhibited higher density and smaller grain sizes as compared with the microwave-sintered ones. Dielectric and ferroelectric properties were compared between the two-technique-prepared ceramics. It was found that the dielectric constant at room temperature was ∼500 higher for the SPS-prepared sample than for the microwave-sintered one, and ∼6000 higher at Curie transition temperature. The remnant and spontaneous polarization values were ∼2 times larger for the SPS-prepared sample as compared with the microwave-sintered one. On the whole, the promising SPS technique possessed distinguished characteristics of energy-saving, rapid processing and uniform temperature distribution throughout the sample.