Low temperature sintering and microwave dielectric properties of Li3Mg2NbO6 ceramics

The Li3Mg2NbO6 (LMN) ceramics were synthesized through the traditional solid-state process. The sintering characteristics, microwave dielectric properties and the morphology of LMN ceramics with various BaCu(B2O5) (BCB) addition were investigated. No secondary phase was found in the BCB added ceramics. Low-level doping of BCB (ae<currency> 2 wt%) could significantly improve the densification of LMN ceramics due to the liquid phase sintering mechanism. The dielectric constant and the quality factor value had the same variation trend with bulk density. The temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (tau(f)) value presented descending tendency as the BCB content increased. Besides, the X-ray diffraction result and the back scattered electron image of the sample confirmed the chemical compatibility silver electrodes. The optimum microwave dielectric of epsilon(r) = 14.27, Q x f = 55521 GHz and tau(f) = - 18.2 ppm/A degrees C was obtained, when the LMN ceramics with 0.1 wt% BCB sintered at 950 A degrees C for 4 h, which could be a promising candidate material for low temperature co-fired ceramics applications.