Laser sintering of BaTiO3 ceramics obtained from nanometric powders

We have studied the synthesis and sintering of BaTiO3 (BTO) nanometric powders produced by Pechini technique. A laser sintering procedure was applied to the BTO and its major advantage was the quickness of the processing. We have used the radiation of a CO2 laser (CW - 100 W) as the beating source. A linear rate of irradiation was applied to avoid macroscopic defects. The calcined powder at 800 degrees C presented a single crystalline phase confirmed by the XRD and a crystallite size of 20 nm. BTO ceramics sintered at P-max = 7.0 W/mm(2) for 10 min of irradiation showed a high relative density (98 +/- 1) % with an average grain size of 400 nm for a total time of sintering of 40 minutes.