Effects of mechanical activation on the formation and sintering kinetics of barium strontium titanate ceramics

The influence of mechanical activation on the formation, sintering kinetics and morphology was investigated in sintered barium strontium titanate (BST) ceramics with different Ba-to-Sr ratios. Initial powders were mechanically activated for 20 and 120 min, leading to mechano-chemical reaction and formation of BaxSr1-xTiO3 phases. Agglomeration was found to represent an important factor in the process of formation of BaxSr1-xTiO3 phases around 800°C and during sintering. It reduces the effectiveness of mechanical activation on formation of BaxSr1-xTiO3 phases beyond the short period (20 min), while in the process of sintering, prolonged mechanical activation (120 min) leads to a significant reduction in sintering temperature and the corresponding value of activation energy. In addition, all three systems show a phase transformation around 1100°C, attributed to the hexagonal-to-cubic phase transition. Morphology of the final sintered ceramics can be correlated primarily with the state of the pre-sintered powder, where mechanically activated powders with smaller particle size produced more compact and less porous final product.