Effect of the Dwell Temperature on Spark Plasma Sintered CaCu3Ti4O12
Polycrystalline CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics were prepared by solid state reactions by spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. In this study, the effects of the dwell temperature on structural, microstructural and dielectric properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics have been investigated. Powder mixtures were calcined at 900°C for 18 h before SPS consolidation. The dwell temperatures were 850, 900, 915 and 930°C. Sintered pellets were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and impedance spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction patterns show evidences of a single-phase perovskite-type structure. The calculated lattice parameter is 7.40 Å. The hydrostatic density increases slightly with increasing dwell temperature. Scanning electron microscopy observations revealed a heterogeneous microstructure for all samples. The dielectric loss remains constant over a wide temperature range. The obtained permittivity is approximately 103 at 1 kHz. The increase of the dwell temperature is found to produce a brittle ceramic.