LAUSR

Abstract The present work aims to investigate sinter-crystallization as well as thermal properties and microwave dielectric features of forsterite/MBS (MgO-B 2 O 3 -SiO 2 ) glass-ceramic composites prepared through conventional and microwave assisted sintering procedures. Microwave sintered composites offered better sinterability compared to the conventionally sintered composites all over the sintering temperate interval. It was found that the optimum densification occur for the 30:70 forsterite/MBS glass-ceramic composite at temperature of 850 °C. In all fabricated composites, suanite and enstatite were crystallized from the glass matrix. According to the FESEM observation, microstructure of the optimized composite was composed of dendritic crystals of suanite and enstatite crystallized from the glass matrix around forsterite particles. The most promising conventionally sintered composite had low dielectric constant (5.8), near zero thermal coefficient of resonance frequency as well as quality factor of 18312 GHz.