Control of the Shrinkage during Hybrid Microwave Sintering of Nano-Sized ZnO Based Powder for Varistors

The microwave heating allows sintering in a very short time which is useful to keep the materials nanostructure. Up to now the trial error method is commonly used to find the best experimental parameters. This method is time consuming and does not allow getting a high reliability. In this work, a specific optical based position sensing device has been used to record the shrinkage during hybrid microwave sintering. Owing to this particular device, the control of the nano-sized ZnO based powder sintering has been successfully achieved. Very fine microstructures were obtained and electrical properties of those nano-ceramics were determined.