Preparation and Characterization of Magnesium Zinc Ferrite Barium Strontium Titanate Composite Materials using Two Stage Sintering

The effect of two-stage sintering of composition ceramics between (0.6)MgSUB0.7/SUBZnSUB0.3/SUBFe₂O₄ and (0.4)BaSUB0.7/SUBSrSUB0.3/SUBTiO₃ on crystal structure, microstructure, electrical and magnetic properties was studied. Samples were sintered using a two-stage sintering method with the first sintering temperature (T₁) at 1350°C with different holding times for 30, 50 and 60 min and cooled down to the second sintering temperature (T₂) with sintering temperatures at 900 °C and 1100 °C for 5 h with heating/cooling rate at 10 °C/min. It was found that the densities and shrinkage values tended to slightly increase with the length of holding times at T₁. XRD patterns showed a combination phase between MgSUB0.7/SUBZnSUB0.3/SUBFe₂O₄ and BaSUB0.7/SUBSrSUB0.3/SUBTiO₃. The crystallize size and lattice strain were calculated from XRD patterns and found to increase with T₂ sintering. EDX analysis was used to confirm the elemental composition percentage of (0.6)MZF-(0.4)BST. Examination of the microstructure of composition ceramics with SEM revealed grain sizes in the range of 0.852-1.877 μm; with, square shaped grains corresponding to the MgSUB0.7/SUBZnSUB0.3/SUBFe₂O₄ phase and round oval shape corresponding with BaSUB0.7/SUBSrSUB0.3/SUBTiO₃ phase. Magnetic behavior and dielectric constant are obviously increased with highly dense ceramics. Finally, the optimal conditions of two stage sintering were obtained for the holding times of T1 about 50-60 min and the second sintering temperature of T2 at 900 °C for 5 h.