Barium Titanate Dielectric Ceramics Fired by Spark Plasma Sintering with and without Annealing

Aseries of samples was sintered from nanometric BaTiO3 powder by spark plasma sintering (SPS). Sintered tablets were polished, sputtered by aluminum to create electrode system and tested in DC and AC electric fields. The results were correlated with the SPS processing parameters and are discussed in connection with other BaTiO3 samples produced by SPS with or without additional heat treatment. Majority of our SPS fired samples had, even without subsequent thermal treatment, advantageous combination of high permittivity, DC resistivity and low loss factor, seldom reported for SPS technology. Samples were tested also in annealed state and compared with as-sintered ones.