Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) ceramics are sintered using conventional (CS) and microwave (MS) methods. The average grain size of BiFeO3 ceramics sintered using a microwave oven is smaller than that obtained using the conventional method. When the temperature is above 80 degrees C, the dielectric constant of BiFeO3 ceramics prepared by CS is larger than that obtained by MS which may results from the larger grain sizes produced by conventional sintering. At -20 degrees C, an obvious peak is observed in the dielectric loss-temperature curve of the microwave-sintered sample. The remanent polarization of the BiFeO3 ceramics prepared by CS is much smaller than that obtained by MS, and the coercive electric fields of BiFeO3 ceramics prepared by two sintering methods are almost identical.

Keywords: Bismuth ferrite; Ceramic; Ferroelectric; Microwave sintering