Fabrication of BaTiO₃–Bi(Mg_0.5Ti_0.5)O₃–BiFeO₃ ceramics at lower temperature by using citrate method

Abstract

We fabricated 0.3BaTiO₃–0.1Bi(Mg_0.5Ti_0.5)O₃–0.6BiFeO₃ (0.3BT–0.1BMT–0.6BF) ceramics prepared using powders synthesized using the citrate method (CM) and solid state method (SSM) and investigated their microstructure and electric properties. Compared with SSM, CM reduced calcination temperature by 300 °C to synthesize 0.3BT–0.1BMT–0.6BF and reduced sintering temperature by 100 °C to densify the ceramics with a relative density of more than 95 %. The reduced calcination and sintering temperatures with CM were due to a smaller calcined powder. Improved ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties were observed for the ceramics prepared using this method. This could be attributed to reduced defects associated with the suppression of Bi volatilization.