Barium titanate (BaTiO3, or BT) powders were synthesized via a solid state reaction of BaCO3-TiO2 by combining a high-energy ball milling (HEM) technique and a calcination method. Using X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods with a Rietveld refinement, the effects of calcination temperature on the phase formation and crystallite structure of BT powders were studied. It is found that by means of HEM the synthesis temperature for obtaining BT single phase is decreased to 960 degrees C, which is much lower than that required by the conventional solid-state reaction process, and the crystallite structure of BT is in the (pseudo)cubic form. As the calcination temperature is increased to 980 degrees C, the structure of BT crystallites transforms from the (pseudo)cubic to the tetragonal form. With an increase in the calcination temperature, both the tetragonality (c/a-1) and crystallite size are increased.

Keywords: Barium titanate; Crystallite structure; XRD; Rietveld refinement; High-energy ball milling