Enhanced dielectric and piezoelectric properties in microwave sintered ( $$\hbox {Ba}_{0.997}\hbox {Nd}_{0.003})\hbox {TiO}_{3}$$ Ba 0.997 Nd 0.003 ) TiO 3 ceramic when compared to conventional sintered ceramics

Abstract

Dielectric, conductivity and piezoelectric properties have been studied on (\(\hbox {Ba}_{0.997}\hbox {Nd}_{0.003})\hbox {TiO}_{3}\) ceramic samples prepared through microwave sintered (MWS) and conventional sintered (CS) routes and the results are presented in this paper. The room temperature dielectric constant at 10 kHz for CS and MWS samples are 1245 and 5250 respectively. Room temperature dielectric constant in MWS sample was almost four times higher than that of the CS sample. The value of \(K_{\mathrm{t}}\) is found to be 0.998 and 0.997; whereas the value of \(d_{33}\) is \(7.72 \hbox { nm V}^{-1}\) (573 K) and \(444.66 \hbox { nm V}^{-1}\) (573 K) for CS and MWS samples, respectively. In the present study almost 57 times enhancement in piezoelectric charge constant (\(d_{33}\)) is observed for the MWS \(\hbox {Ba}_{0.997}\hbox {Nd}_{0.003}\hbox {TiO}_{3}\) ceramic when compared to the CS ceramic.