Effect of sintering temperature on electrical properties of SrBi₄Ti₄O₁₅ ceramics

The paper reports the influence of sintering temperature on the structural and electrical properties of SrBi₄TI₄O₁₅ (SBT) ceramic synthesized by the solid state reaction method. The ceramic powders were calcined at 850 °C (Sample A), 900 °C (Sample B) for 3h and sintered at three different temperatures i.e. 1,050, 1,100 and 1,150 °C for 1 h. The XRD analysis confirms that all the samples exhibit single phase orthorhombic structure, excluding of any secondary phases. Scanning Electron Micrograph shows randomly oriented plate-like microstructure. A sharp phase transition from ferroelectric to paraelectric is observed in the temperature dependent dielectric studies of all SBT ceramics. The AC conductivity analysis of all the samples is carried out as a function of frequency at various temperatures. The ferreoelctric and piezoelectric properties of the all the samples were studied. It is observed that the samples calcined at 900 °C for 3 h and sintered at 1,100 °C for 1 h shows high dielectric and piezoelectric behavior due to large orthorhombic distortion.