Influence of processing conditions on crystal structure of Bi6Fe2Ti3O18 ceramics

Abstract

Aim of the present research was to apply a solid state reaction route to fabricate Aurivillius-type ceramics described with the formula Bi6Fe2Ti3O18 (BFTO) and reveal the influence of processing conditions on its crystal structure. Pressureless sintering in ambient air was employed and the sintering temperatures were 850 and 1080°C. It was found that the fabricated BFTO ceramics were multiphase ones. They consisted of two Bim+1Fem-3Ti3O3m+3 phases, namely the phase with m=5 (i.e. the stoichiometric phase) and m=4 (i.e. the phase with a reduced number of layers in the slab). Detailed X-ray diffraction patterns analysis showed that both phases adopted the same orthorhombic structure described with Fmm2 (42) space group. The ratio of weight fractions of the constituent phases (m=5): (m=4) was ∼30:70.