Effect of microwave sintering on structural, ferroelectric, dielectric and mechanical properties of Sm-doped SrBi < inf > 4 < /inf > Ti < inf > 4 < /inf > O < inf > 15 < /inf > ceramics

Abstract

Samarium substituted SrBi 4Ti 4O 15 (SBTi) ceramic, SrBi 4-xSm xTi 4O 15 (SBSmTi) samples were prepared by solidstate reaction and processed using microwave sintering and conventional sintering techniques. Their morphological, dielectric, ferroelectric and mechanical properties were investigated. The microwave sintered samples shows high densities, 95% of the theoretical density were achieved with very short thermal treatments and with less soaking time. Relatively small plate-like grains were formed, and microstructure seemed not to be affected by doping or soaking time. The dielectric properties were measured as a function of frequency at 1MHz. The dielectric constant and loss tangent of the conventional and microwave sintered samples have ranged between (100-130) & (0.04-0.07) and (110-150) & (0.03-0.05) respectively. Compared with undoped SBTi, The incorporation of Sm 3+ results in clear improvement for SBSmTi (x = 0.75) on the dielectric properties ferroelectric and mechanical properties with increasing samarium content.