Enhanced Dielectric Properties in Spark Plasma Sintered Zinc Titanate Ceramics

• Published in: Transactions of the Indian Institute of Metals Vol. 70; no. 10; pp. 2571 - 2574
• Main Authors: Bhoopathy, B. G., Vishwath Ram, A., Rajeshwara Rao, R. J., Susila, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01-12-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ceramics; Chemistry and Materials Science; Consolidation; Corrosion and Coatings; Densification; Dielectric properties; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Plasma sintering; Spark plasma sintering; Technical Paper; Titanium oxides; Tribology; Zinc; Zinc oxide; Calcination; Mechanical alloying; Density; Sintering; Dielectric properties
• ISSN: 0972-2815; 0975-1645
• DOI: 10.1007/s12666-017-1109-7

The ever increasing application of zinc titanate ceramics as a dielectric material in microwave devices and low temperature co-fired ceramics calls for the improvement in their dielectric properties. In this paper, the effect of different sintering techniques on the dielectric properties of zinc titanate have been discussed. Zinc titanate was prepared by ball milling 1:1 molar ratio of ZnO and TiO
2
for 12 h and calcined at 800 °C for 2 h. The presence of ZnTiO
3
and Zn
2
TiO
4
phases were confirmed by X-ray diffraction and the dielectric properties of the sintered samples were studied using LCR meter. Samples consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) showed highest densification (13% increase), higher dielectric permittivity (ɛ
r
 = 25.17) and Q factor (Q factor = 162.78) with lower loss tangent values (tanδ = 0.00614) than that of microwave sintered samples (ɛ
r
 = 21.86, Q factor = 99.08, tanδ = 0.01009) and conventionally sintered samples (ɛ
r
 = 20.54, Q factor = 60.07, tanδ = 0.01665). The fabrication time was considerably reduced for the materials prepared via SPS than that prepared by conventional route with improved properties and also the dependence of dielectric properties on density was confirmed in this research work.