Processing and characterization of calcined and sintered niobium doped barium titanate

Processing and characterization of niobium doped barium titanate was accomplished through mixed oxides route via calcination based on the formula BaTi1-xNbxO3 where x = 0.004, 0.008 and 0.016. Perovskite structure was observed at calcination temperature of 1300°C, confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. Interestingly, XRD peaks corresponding to (002) and (200) planes insisted that increasing Nb doping level reduced the tetragonality of barium titanate as found by plotting c/a ratio against doping level. Submicron-size particles were observed for all compositions, though size varied significantly due to Nb. Dielectric constant values were apparently small at higher doping concentration.