Microstructure and microwave dielectric properties of lead borosilicate glass ceramics with Al2O3

The effects of Al₂O₃ addition on both the sintering behavior and microwave dielectric properties of PbO-B₂O₃-SiO₂ glass ceramics were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (FTIR), differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that with the increase of Al₂O₃ content the bands assigned to SiO₄] nearly disappear. Aluminum replaces silicon in the glass network, which is helpful for the formation of boron-oxygen rings. The increase of the transition temperature T _g and softening temperature T _f of PbO-B₂O₃-SiO₂ glass ceramics leads to the increase of liquid phase precipitation temperature and promotes the structure stability in the glasses, and consequently contributes to the decreasing trend of crystallization. Densification and dielectric constants increase with the increase of Al₂O₃ content, but the dielectric loss is worsened. By contrast, the 3% (mass fraction) Al₂O₃-doped glass ceramics sintered at 725 °C have better properties of density ρ=2.72 g/cm³, dielectric constant ɛ _r =6.78, dielectric loss tan δ=2.6×10⁻³ (measured at 9.8 GHz), which suggest that the glass ceramics can be applied in multilayer microwave devices requiring low sintering temperatures.