Microstructure and electromagnetic properties of microwave sintered CoCuZn ferrites

Co-Cu-Zn ferrite material has been extensively used in multilayer chip inductors because of their good electromagnetic properties at higher frequencies and low sintering temperatures. In this research work, a comparative study on Co-Cu-Zn ferrite prepared from two different routes is reported. The two different routes are conventional ceramic sintering method (CS) and is microwave sintered (MS) method. The former route is most commonly used while the latter one is now gaining popularity in sintering processes. The work highlights that the sintering temperature and time were significantly reduced from 4 h and 1250 °C for the CS process to 20 min and 900 °C for MS process. Moreover, microwave sintering also improves the physical and electromagnetic properties of ferrite.