Bulk dense nanocrystalline BaTiO3 ceramics prepared by novel pressureless two-step sintering method

In this paper, we investigate preparation of bulk dense nanocrystalline BaTiO₃ ceramics using an unconventional two-step sintering strategy, which offers the advantage of not having grain growth while increasing density from about 73 to above 99.6%. Isothermal and constant grain size sintering have been carried out to high density in pure BaTiO₃ system. The kinetics of this method is also discussed, which exploits the different kinetics between densification diffusion and grain boundary mobility. Using this method, bulk dense ceramics with a grain size of 8–10 nm was obtained successfully at a very low sintering temperature.