Lamellar BaTiO3 and its composites fabricated by the freeze casting technique

In this investigation, the freeze casting technique was employed to fabricate ceramic epoxy composites. Porous BaTiO3 ceramics exhibited lamellae architectures with strong anisotropy but with poor mechanical property. BaTiO3-epoxy composites in longitudinal direction showed high dielectric constants which were 1 order of magnitude higher than those of conventional composites with randomly distributed ceramic particles. With the addition of alumina, the compressive strength of porous BaTiO3 ceramics could be enhanced and the dielectric constants of ceramic-epoxy composites were lowered, but they were still much higher than those of the traditional composites. In a word, the properties of the composites could be optimized by adding proper amount of alumina. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.