A new sol-gel route using inorganic salts for synthesizing barium magnesium tantalate ceramics

A new sol-gel process using inorganic salts instead of metal alkoxides has been successfully developed for preparing Ba(Mg1/3Ta2/3)O-3. Pure Ba(Mg1/3Ta2/3)O-3 polycrystalline powders were obtained by calcining the derived precursors at 1100 degrees C. The particle size of the obtained fine particles was around 0.1 mu m. The ordering parameter of the sintered Ba(Mg1/3Ta2/3)O-3 was found to strongly depend on the calcination temperatures. Sintering the 1200 degrees C-calcined powders at 1690 degrees C resulted in the ordering parameter to be 0.82, which is greater than that obtained in the conventional solid-state reaction. The improvement in the ordering parameter is attributed to the enhanced compositional homogeneity in the powders prepared via the sol-gel process.