Microstructural evolution in MSnO3 ceramics derived via self-heat-sustained (SHS) reaction technique

A thorough study of MSnO3 (M = Ca, Sr and Ba) compounds with respect to their synthesis, processing and microstructural characterization has been made. In order to establish a standard methodology with identical and beneficial microstructure and reproducible electrical characteristics, a novel prepa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Azad, Abdul-Majeed, Shyan, Lucia Liew Woan, Pang, Toh Yen, Nee, Chen Hon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2000
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/115592/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/115592/1/115592.pdf
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Summary:A thorough study of MSnO3 (M = Ca, Sr and Ba) compounds with respect to their synthesis, processing and microstructural characterization has been made. In order to establish a standard methodology with identical and beneficial microstructure and reproducible electrical characteristics, a novel preparative method called self-heat-sustained (SHS) reaction technique was employed. Evolution of microstructure which is intimately related to the envisaged properties in the ceramics, was closely and systematically followed in terms of wide temperature-soak time (T-t) profiles. The results showed that while a well-densified microstructure with small grain size (approximately 1 μm) and near zero porosity could be obtained by selecting a sintering schedule of 1350 °C/x h (48 h<x≤60 h) for CaSnO3 samples, very well sintered samples with relatively larger grains (3-5 μm) and minimal porosity could also be obtained by sintering at 1600 °C for 2 h. Well-densified microstructure with small grain size and zero or near zero porosity could be obtained by a sintering schedule of 1350 °C/x h (12 h<x≤24 h) in SrSnO3 samples. Sintering of BaSnO3 proved to be the most difficult. The BaSnO3 samples could only be densified to the desired level by soaking the powder compacts for 2 h at 1600 °C. The `sugar cube' features were replaced by the spherical grains (average size 1-2 μm).