Effect of sintering temperature on physical, mechanical, and electrical properties of nano silica particles synthesized from Indonesia local sand for piezoelectric application

This study aims to determine the effect of the sintering temperature of nanosilica on physical, mechanical, dielectric, and output voltage properties. The nanosilica particles used in this experiment were produced using the alkaline fusion method from natural sand. The green bodies were uniaxially formed with a pressure of 75 MPa and then were pressureless sintered at various temperatures of 1330, 1360, 1390, 1420, and 1450°C for 2 hours in an air atmosphere. The results of sintering showed that the highest bulk density and the relative density of 2.49 ± 0.03 g/cm3 and 94.03 ± 0.01% respectively were achieved at a sintering temperature of 1390°C. The XRD patterns of the sintered silica indicated phases of quartz, tridymite, and cristobalite, with the strongest peak corresponding to the cristobalite phase. The highest compressive strength and diametral tensile strength values of 17.23 ± 0.27 MPa and 6.06 ± 0.71 MPa respectively were obtained on specimens sintered at 1390°C. However, the highest values of the dielectric constant of 544.28, dielectric loss of 195.94, and output voltage of 1.58 mV were obtained at a sintering temperature of 1330°C. Various sintering temperatures do not significantly influence the characteristic of dielectric and output voltage of the sintered specimens.