Effects of microwave sintering on the properties of 0.87(Mg _0.7Zn _0.3)TiO ₃-0.13(Ca _0.61La _0.26)TiO ₃ ceramics

0.87(Mg _0.7Zn _0.3)TiO ₃-0.13(Ca _0.61La _0.26)TiO ₃ (referred to as 87MZCLT) ceramics were prepared by microwave sintering and conventional sintering. The experimental results demonstrated that the sintering cycle of 87MZCLT ceramics was greatly shortened and the impurity phase (Mg _0.7Zn _0.3)Ti ₂O ₅ was eliminated by microwave sintering. Moreover, the 87MZCLT ceramics prepared by microwave sintering show more uniform, fine-grained microstructure as well as much less Zn evaporation. As a result, the quality factor was increased by 40% compared with conventional sintering. All samples were sintered at 1275 °C for 20 min with heating and cooling rate of 15 °C/min and gave excellent microwave dielectric properties: ε _r = 26.21, Q × f = 120,000 GHz, τ _f = -3 ppm/°C.