BNT ceramics synthesis and characterization

Investigations on barium neodymium titanate (BNT) prepared by solid state reaction techniques are presented in this paper. The samples were sintered at temperatures, Ts, in a range 1200–1300 °C. High density values and adequate microwave parameters were obtained by adding 0.5 mol PbO substitutional for BaO. A decrease of the Curie temperature with the increase of the Nd2O3 concentration was confirmed. For the sample with 28 wt.% Nd2O3, 0.5 mol PbO pyroelectric data indicate Curie temperature around 75 K, therefore, at room temperatures, the materials are in paraelectric phase. BNT ceramics with high Nd2O3 concentration (28 wt.%), sintered at 1250 °C for 2 h appear to be suitable for dielectric resonators for frequencies up to 3 GHz (εr=80–90 and Q=2000).