Nanopowders of (Ba,Ca)(Ti,Sn)O₃ produced with planetary ball mill and corresponding ceramics

Abstract

Lead free (Ba_0.7Ca_0.3)(Ti_0.92Sn_0.08) ceramics were prepared using conventional solid state sintering method. Calcined powders were high energy ball milled to prepare nanocrystalline powders by varying the milling speed from 100 rpm to 250 rpm with regular intervals of 75 rpm, fixing the milling time to 24h. The average particle size of the milled powders, as examined using TEM, shows a gradual decrease with increasing milling speed. X-ray diffraction analysis shows single phase perovskite structure for all the ceramics sintered at 1350 °C for 4h. The study reveals that there exists an appreciable size effect on the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the ceramic samples.

Keywords:

• Perovskite
• piezoelectric properties
• sintering
• diffraction
• nanocrystalline powders