Effects of Kaolinite additions on sintering behavior and dielectric properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics

Abstract

Commercial Kaolinite was employed as sintering aid to reduce the sintering temperature of CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) ceramics. The effects of Kaolinite content and sintering temperature on the densification, microstructure and dielectric properties of CCTO ceramics have been investigated. The density characterization results show that the addition of Kaolinite significantly enhanced the relative density of CCTO ceramics to about 92 %. X-ray diffraction results show CCTO ceramics with a low amount of Kaolinite exhibited perovskite-like structure, but 1.0 wt% Kaolinite additions resulted in the formation of a secondary phase, CaO–TiO2–Al2O3–SiO2 glass phase was formed and improved the dielectric constant of ceramics, which was supported by scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray results. CCTO ceramic with 1.0 wt% Kaolinite addition possessed well temperature and frequency stability of dielectric constant. It was found that Kaolinite lowered the dielectric loss of the samples.