PREPARATION OF MULTIPLE OXIDE BATIO3 FIBERS BY THE SOL-GEL METHOD

Multiple oxide BaTiO3 gel fibres were prepared by the sol-gel method from Ba(OC2H5)2-Ti(O-isoC3H7)4-H2O-C2H5OH-CH3COOH and Ba(CH3COO)2-Ti(O-isoC3H7)4-H2O-CH3COOH solutions. Relatively long gel fibres of 10cm length were obtained from both solutions in the limited composition region. The latter solution in particular showed a spinnability even when it contained no water. Therefore, the occurrence of spinnability of the solution was considered to be due to the formation of linear polymers composed of bridging acetate groups such as Ti←O-C(CH3)-O-Ti rather than metalloxane bonding as Ti-O-Ti. Addition of water to the solutions seems to break the bridging acetate bonds and replace some of them by bridging oxygen bonds. The as-drawn gel fibres which were X-ray amorphous crystallized into BaTiO3 ceramic fibres of 5mm average length upon heating above 600 ° C. However, the gel fibres drawn from the sols without water became powdery on heating because of the lack of Ti-O-Ti metalloxane bonds. The crystallization behaviour of the BaTiO3 gel fibres is discussed based on the infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis. © 1990 Chapman and Hall Ltd.