Influence of europium addition on microstructure and electrical properties of CCTO ceramics
CaCu<inf>3</inf>Ti<inf>4</inf>O<inf>12</inf> (CCTO) ceramics with different proportions of Eu<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> dopant (mol%, x=0.00, 0.40 %, 0.80 %, 0.12 %, 0.18 %) were prepared by solid state conventional technique. SEM and XRD were used in the microstructural studies of the specimens; at the same time, the electrical properties and V-I characteristics of the varistor ceramics samples were investigated for varistors. Electric properties of the material were related to the internal grain which was invariable with Eu<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> concentration altered. Rich copper disappeared in internal boundary of the Eu-doped CCTO samples. The highest density is acquired at 1060 □, with the maximum value reaching to 95 %. The maximum nonlinear coefficient reaches to 4.1 with the Eu<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> dopant content up to 1.8 mol%. The results from the measurements showed that the dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the samples varied according to the proportion of Eu<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> dopant and sintering temperature.