Control of Liquid‐Phase‐Enhanced Discontinuous Grain Growth in Barium Titanate

Barium titanate shows discontinuous grain growth in the presence of small amounts of the liquid eutectic Ba 6 Ti 17 O 40 ‐BaTiO 3 at T > 1312°C. The exaggerated grain growth in the presence of the liquid phase can be explained in terms of a solution‐segregation process. The grain size distribution of sintered BaTiO 3 ceramics and the average grain size are strongly modified by addition of “seed grains” to BaTiO 3 powder. The addition of seed grains seems to be a general method of controlling the discontinuous grain growth of ceramics.