Preparation and characterisation of fine-grained barium lead titanate ceramics by spark plasma sintering technique

Barium lead titanate ferroelectric ceramic is a promising material for electronic devices at high frequency and high temperatures. These fine-grained ceramics were obtained at a low sintering temperature of 900°C within a short sintering time by means of a new sintering method – spark plasma sintering (SPS). The ceramics are highly densified to >99% of the theoretical X-ray density with homogeneous microstructures, signifying that the SPS process is effective for the densifying of compacts and the inhibition of exaggerated grain growth. Temperature dependence of dielectric constant of SPS pellets shows three times higher than the conventional sintering (CS) Ba0.8Pb0.2TiO3 (BPT) pellet. The variations in properties between SPS and CS materials are mainly because of the differences of the resultant microstructures, especially grain size, of the ceramics.