Effects of B₂O₃ Addition on the Sintering Behavior of 0-5-10% ZrO₂ Doped BaTiO₃ Based Ceramics

In this study, the effect of B₂O₃ addition on the sintering behavior of 0-5-10% ZrO₂ doped barium titanate based microwave dielectric ceramics were investigated. For this purpose, the powder mixtures consisting of BaCO₃, TiO₂ and ZrO₂ were prepared by ball milling technique in alcohol using ZrO₂ balls at 200 cycle/min for 20 h. The prepared powders were calcined at 900°C for 2 h. Produced powders were mixed 0.5% B₂O₃ and 5% PVA and pressed as green body under the pressure of 100 MPa. The disc-shaped die-pressed samples were sintered at 1250°C, 1350°C and 1450°C for 4 h. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the main phases formed in the sintered samples are BaTiO₃ and $Ba(Ti_{1-x}Zr_{x})O_3$. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to investigate microstructure of the sintered samples. The bulk densities of the sintered samples increased with the addition of B₂O₃ content due to the low number of pores trapped between the grains.