BaTiO3-ceramics and grain growth engineering using fractal nature approach

Grain size and morphology of BaTiO3-ceramics are very important characteristics in developing new dielectric devices. Samples with different additives were sintered at different temperatures and times. The microstructure of the samples was observed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Experimental results indicated well-developed morphology of BaTiO3-ceramics from nano- to micro- scales, with the standard ceramics consolidation procedure. It is observed that the morphology of grains is the function of additives, sintering temperature and sintering time. However, image analysis of grain growth indicated that sintering temperature has a strong impact on the morphology and grain size of the samples in the temperature range 1240 °C to 1380 °C. Kinetic exponents and grain growth fractal dimensions were obtained with the collecting the parameters of same grain exposed to five magnifications by SEM imaging and using appropriate processing software for grain-shape fractal reconstruction. The main results in this paper established the relation between sintering consolidation process and fractal nature influence, as well as complex fractal correction on sintering temperature