LAUSR

Abstract Lanthanum doped bismuth titanate (Bi4-xLaxTi3O12, x = 0.25–1.50) ceramics have been derived from amorphous precursors that were activated by using high-energy ball milling. XRD results indicate that all the milled oxide mixtures become amorphous state after high-energy ball milling for 10 h, while SEM images reveal that the particle size of the samples is at the tens of nanometers. The amorphous oxide mixtures can be directly sintered into Bi4-xLaxTi3O12 ceramics at a temperature of as low as 900 °C, without the requirement of calcination. At the same time, Bi4-xLaxTi3O12 phases are formed without the presence of any secondary phase. All the three lattice parameters are reduced with increasing content of La. At a given sintering temperature, grain size of the BixLaxTi3O12 ceramics is gradually decreased with increasing content of La, which is attributed to the low diffusivity of La3+, thus leading to the inhibition of grain growth. All the results confirm that high-energy mechanochemical activation is a promising strategy in the fabrication of ceramic materials.