LAUSR

Abstract One of the main subjects in electroceramics studies is how to improve or tune one specific electrical property for a defined application. It has been demonstrated that compositional and/or microstructural engineering is an efficient way to optimize the electrical properties of this class of materials. Alternatively, the preparation of ceramic composites for this purpose has been recently proposed. This paper reports the preparation of bilayered ceramics of BaZr0.05Ti0.95O3 and Ba0.75Sr0.25TiO3. Crack-free and high-density composites were obtained despite the different contraction coefficients of the layers during the sintering. The electric properties of the bilayers are evaluated and discussed in terms of the individual capacitance and resistivity of each composition. In particular, one diffusion layer (∼20 μm) that has an important effect on the material’s overall behaviour was observed. Besides, it was concluded that the new phase transition of this composite can be modelled as the sum of the phase transitions of each compound.