Sinterização a laser e caracterização dielétrica de cerâmicas de CaCu3Ti4O12

Abstract

Structural studies with CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) are made since the 1970s, however investigations about their electrical properties only started recently. At 2000, it was reported a high permittivity of ~ 12000 (at 1 KHz) in ceramics of this material which remained constant between the room temperature to ~ 200 °C, and whose physical explanations be still controversial in the scientific society. High dielectric constants allow smaller capacitive components, enabling the size reduction of the electronic devices. In this way, CCTO has attracted the interest of many researchers as technological as scientific point of view. One of the main problem that limit its immediate application as dielectric in ceramic capacitors is its high dielectric loss (~ 0,15) near at room temperature. On the other hand, this material has been prepared by several researchers mainly by the solid state reaction method, in the temperature range of 1000 °C to 1050 °C, with thermal treatment up to 48 h. As result, some secondary phases have be found as in the calcined powders as in the sintered ceramics. Thus, other synthesis methods have been proposed and tested in the last years. In this work, we have studied the CCTO synthesis by a route based on Pechini s method and its sintering using a new method, in which a CO2 laser is used as the main heating source. Besides, the dielectric properties of CCTO ceramics were investigated in order to verify the influence of this sintering process on the ceramic properties as well as onto the understanding of the involved physical mechanisms. The laser sintered ceramics presented high relative density (95 ± 1%), with homogeneous microstructure and dielectric constant at about 2000 with low dielectric loss (0,06) at 1 kHz, when sintered at 1,3 W/mm2. The dielectric loss value obtained in this work is among the lowest ever recorded. Based on our results was also proposed a mechanism to aid in the understanding of the giant dielectric constant in CCTO. Finally, we believe that laser sintering can be an important tool for the optimization of the dielectric properties of CCTO ceramics and consequently future applications in the capacitors and electronic devices industry, whose worldwide consumption is increasing.