Low-Temperature Sintering and Microwave Dielectric Properties of Zinc Metatitanate-Rutile Mixtures Using Boron

Mixtures of zinc metatitanate and rutile (ZnTiO₃+ x TiO₂, where x = 0-0.5) have been prepared via the conventional mixed-oxide method. Centrifugal planetary milling with zirconia beads 1 mm in diameter produced very fine powders (mean particle size of 0.2 µm), which allowed the synthesis of ZnTiO₃ and sintering at temperatures <945°C, which is the decomposition temperature of ZnTiO₃. Sintering of the mixtures was enhanced further by the addition of B₂O₃. Densities of >94% of the theoretical density have been attained for the specimens that were sintered at 875°C for 4 h with B₂O₃ additions of <1 wt%. Microwave dielectric properties of the aforementioned compositions were as follows: dielectric constant of 29-31, normalized quality factor of 56000-69000 GHz, and a temperature coefficient of resonance frequency between -10 and +10 ppm/°C. Sintering was enhanced by the formation of a ZnO-B₂O₃ liquid phase, which affected the microwave properties, because of variation in the phase composition.