Investigating the Effect of Temperature and Phase on Properties of Metal Pseudobrookite

Abstract

Iron titanate is a metal pseudobrookite with a number of unique features, including spin glass behaviour, thermal microcracking, magnetic texture, and high resistivity. The polycrystalline pseudobrookite has wide range of applications. This paper compares the electrical resistivity and dielectric properties as a function of temperature and relaxation spectra of pure iron titanates prepared with the rutile form of titanium oxide and sintered at two temperatures, 1000^oC and 1250^oC, as well as pure iron titanates prepared with the anatase form of titanium oxide and sintered at 1250^oC.

The iron titanates are made using A.R. grade oxides and a typical ceramic method.XRD and FTIR tests confirm the development of a single phase. In terms of structure, all of the samples are pseudobrookites with orthorhombic unit cells. The analysis of the relaxation spectra establishes the presence of space-charge, which increases with the sintering temperature for the pseudobrookite prepared from rutile TiO₂. The pseudobrookite made from anatase TiO₂ also has inferior dielectric and electric characteristics at lower frequency (1 kHz) and exhibits strong hysteresis, indicating slower microcrack healing, according to the research. The effects of structural changes on resistivity, dielectric constant, and dielectric loss are discussed and analysed.