Structural and electrical properties of BZT-added BNLT ceramics

Lead free piezoelectric ceramics (1−x)BNLT−xBZT with x=0.00, 0.06, 0.09 and 0.12 were prepared using a two-step mixed oxide method. Dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of the ceramics were improved by the addition of the BZT. XRD results show tetragonal symmetry structure of the BNLT–BZT ceramics. It was found that the tetragonality increases with increasing BZT content. The optimum composition is x=0.09, where the maximum values of the piezoelectric constant d₃₃ (~126 pC/N) and dielectric constant (~2400) were obtained at room temperature. This BNLT–BZT system can be a promising candidate for lead-free piezoelectric ceramics.     

Properties of hydroxyapatite/zirconium oxide nanocomposites

Effects of zirconium oxide (ZrO₂) nanoparticles additive on the microstructure and physical properties of hydroxyapatite (HA) were investigated. The HA powder was derived from natural bovine bone by a sequence of thermal processes. The composites containing nanoparticles of ZrO₂ (0.2–1.0 vol%) were fabricated by a solid-state reaction mixed oxide method. All samples showed traces of HA, beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) and alpha-tricalcium phosphate (α-TCP) phases while the x≥0.1 samples also showed ZrO₂ phase. Amount of β-TCP and α-TCP phases tend to decrease with ZrO₂. The additive inhibited grain growth as a result of a decrease in grain size. However, the x=0.2 sample exhibited higher hardness value which is consistent with the density data. In addition, bioactivity test suggested that the additive promoted an apatite forming with the values of Ca/P close to the value obtained from HA.     

Dielectric properties of strontium iron holmium niobate ceramics

Strontium iron holmium niobate (Sr(Fe_1?xHo_x)_0.5Nb_0.5O₃) ceramics were synthesized via a solid-state reaction technique. The undoped ceramic showed an orthorhombic phase, but it transformed to a pseudocubic phase for higher Ho concentrations. A low solubility limit of Ho in SFN caused a formation of second phase for the x=0.15 ceramic. Dielectric behavior of undoped ceramic exhibited high dielectric constant over a wide temperature range. However, the doping shifted this region to a higher temperature. The doping also shifted the peak of dielectric loss to a higher temperature. Activation energy of dielectric relaxation increased with increasing Ho concentration. In addition, complex impedance analysis was applied to determine the behaviors of grain boundary and grain after doping.     

The effect of heat treatment temperature on phase formation and luminescence properties of calcium magnesium silicate glass-ceramics doped with Sm2O3

Abstract

The transparent glasses of CaO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-ZnO system doped with Sm₂O₃ was prepared by conventional melt-quenching method. The obtained glasses were heat treated at a suitable temperature (875?°C–920?°C for 2?h) identified by differential thermal analysis (DTA). Phase formation and microstructure of glass-ceramics were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The optical transmission spectra were recorded by UV-Vis spectrophotometer in the wavelength range between 350 and 1000?nm. It was found that the increase in heat treatment temperature reduced the transparency of the glass-ceramics. The luminescence properties were identified by fluorescence spectroscopy. The excitation spectra of Sm₂O₃ doped CaO-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-ZnO glass-ceramic samples are in wavelength range of 550–750?nm and the emission spectra exhibited a strong orange-red luminescence composed of 562, 599 and 654?nm under excited at 402?nm. The results of XRD studies revealed the occurrence of diopside (CaMgSi₂O₆) and akermanite (Ca₂MgSi₂O₇) phases. The increasing of heat treatment temperature has no effect on the shift of emission spectra.     

Influence of heat treatment temperature on the properties of the lithium disilicate-fluorcanasite glass-ceramics

This study aims to investigate the influence of heat treatment temperatures on the mechanical properties and chemical solubility (CS) of lithium disilicate-fluorcanasite glass-ceramics and to develop new dental materials. The glasses and glass-ceramics were prepared using CaF₂-SiO₂-CaO-K₂O-Na₂O-Li₂O-Al₂O₃-P₂O₅-based glass system using a conventional melt quenching method followed by a two-stage crystallization process. This two-stage method involves two heating temperature steps: first at a constant temperature (T_S1) of 600°C and second step at varying temperatures (T_S2) of 650, 700, 750, and 800°C. The crystallization behavior, phase formation, microstructure, translucency characteristic, density, hardness, fracture strength, and CS were investigated. It was found that the lithium disilicate crystal acted as the main crystalline phase, and the crystalline phase of fluorcanasite occurred at the heat treatment temperatures of 750 and 800°C. In addition, it was found that density, hardness, fracture strength, and CS increased while the translucency values decreased with increasing heat treatment temperatures. Furthermore, the CS increased dramatically when the fluorcanasite phases occurred in the glass-ceramic samples. The maximum density values, Vickers hardness, fracture toughness, and flexural strength are 2.56 g/cm³, 6.73 GPa, 3.38 MPa.m^1/2, and 259 MPa, respectively. These results may offer a possibility to design a new material for dental applications based on lithium disilicate-fluorcanasite glass-ceramics.     

Effects of GeO2 addition on physical and electrical properties of BaFe0.5Nb0.5O3 ceramic

This paper presents the effect of GeO₂ glass former on the physical and electrical properties of BaFe_0.5Nb_0.5O₃ (BFN) perovskite ceramics. The BFN powder was prepared by a conventional mixed-oxide method and the GeO₂ contents, ranging from 1 to 5 wt.%, were subsequently added to the calcined BFN powder. The mixtures were pressed and sintered to form dense ceramics. We showed that, with the addition of GeO₂, the maximum density was achieved at lower sintering temperature, approximately 200–225 °C lower than those required by the pure BFN ceramic. However, the densities of these GeO₂ doped BFN ceramics were slightly lower than those of pure BFN due to the occurrence of pores. We also found that the addition of GeO₂ reduces the dielectric loss at room temperature from 4.29 to 0.39–0.79 but the dielectric constant at room temperature decreased with the increased GeO₂ concentrations. With small amount of added GeO₂, ferroelectric property of BFN ceramics was also obtained, as confirmed by their hysteresis loops.     

Preparation and dielectric properties of barium iron niobate by molten-salt synthesis

In this work, barium iron niobate; BaFe_0.5Nb_0.5O₃ powder has been successfully synthesized by molten salt method. The power was characterized by a variety technique. Pure phase perovskite was obtained at relative low calcination temperature of <700 °C. The powder exhibits a fine grain with a relatively uniform particle size and microstructure. In addition, BaFe_0.5Nb_0.5O₃ ceramics were prepared and its dielectric properties were investigated. The result suggested that the ceramic prepared from molten-salt synthesis may be has a better properties than that of the ceramics synthesized by a conventional method.     

Effects of NiO nanoparticles on the magnetic properties and diffuse phase transition of BZT/NiO composites

A new composite system, Ba(Zr_0.07Ti_0.93)O₃ (BZT93) ceramic/NiO nanoparticles, was fabricated to investigate the effect of NiO nanoparticles on the properties of these composites. M-H hysteresis loops showed an improvement in the magnetic behavior for higher NiO content samples plus modified ferroelectric properties. However, the 1 vol.% samples showed the optimum ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties. Examination of the dielectric spectra showed that the NiO additive promoted a diffuse phase transition, and the two phase transition temperatures, as observed for BZT93, merged into a single phase transition temperature for the composite samples.     

Fabrication of transparent lead-free KNN glass ceramics by incorporation method

The incorporation method was employed to produce potassium sodium niobate [KNN] (K_0.5Na_0.5NbO₃) glass ceramics from the KNN-SiO₂ system. This incorporation method combines a simple mixed-oxide technique for producing KNN powder and a conventional melt-quenching technique to form the resulting glass. KNN was calcined at 800°C and subsequently mixed with SiO₂ in the KNN:SiO₂ ratio of 75:25 (mol%). The successfully produced optically transparent glass was then subjected to a heat treatment schedule at temperatures ranging from 525°C -575°C for crystallization. All glass ceramics of more than 40% transmittance crystallized into KNN nanocrystals that were rectangular in shape and dispersed well throughout the glass matrix. The crystal size and crystallinity were found to increase with increasing heat treatment temperature, which in turn plays an important role in controlling the properties of the glass ceramics, including physical, optical, and dielectric properties. The transparency of the glass samples decreased with increasing crystal size. The maximum room temperature dielectric constant (ε _r ) was as high as 474 at 10 kHz with an acceptable low loss (tanδ) around 0.02 at 10 kHz.     

High dielectric constant observed in (1 − x)Ba(Zr0.07Ti0.93)O3–xBa(Fe0.5Nb0.5)O3 binary solid-solution

Binary solid-solutions of the (1 ? x)Ba(Zr_0.07Ti_0.93)O₃–xBa(Fe_0.5Nb_0.5O₃) system, with 0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.9,were fabricated via a solid-state processing technique. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that all samples exhibited a single perovskite phase. The BaFe_0.5Nb_0.5O₃ also promoted densification and grain growth of the system. Dielectric measurements showed that all samples displayed a relaxor like behavior. The x = 0.1 sample presented a dielectric-frequency and temperature with low loss tangent (<0.07 at 10 kHz). For x > 0.2 samples, the dielectric data showed a broad dielectric constant–temperature curve with a giant dielectric characteristic. In addition, a high dielectric constant > 50,000 (at 10 kHz and temperature > 150 °C) was observed for the x = 0.9 sample.