Fabrication of Ceramic Capacitor from Metal Oxides (ZrO2, TiO2 & BaO) and Geominerals from the North Shewa Zone (Clay & Bentonite)

Abstract

Ceramic capacitors are fixed-value capacitors made of ceramic material as the dielectric. Ce- ramic capacitors are one of the most promising electrical energy storage technologies due to their fast storage capacity, long cycle stability, high power density and environmental friendli- ness. In this work, the researcher investigated the production of ceramic capacitor material from metal oxides and geominerals found in the North Shewa zone of Ethiopia's Amhara region. At a proportion of Titanium dioxide 32%, Zirconium (IV) oxide 46.1%, Barium Oxide 6.9%, Bentonite 4.9% and Clay 9.8%. The chemical compositions of the Bentonite and Clay were characterized by the Classical silicate analysis method. The effect of pressing pressure, sintering temperature and soaking time was determined for each test sample and the electrical properties of the ceramic capacitor were studied in this research. The specimen was compacted at different pressing pressures from 40 MPa to 60 MPa. The green mass dried overnight in the oven at 100 ℃. The specimen was sintered at different temperatures from 1350℃ to 1450℃ for 1 hr. to 3 hrs. at a soaking firing rate of 5 ℃/minute. The produced ceramic capacitors were characterized in terms of bulk density (2.6346g/ml-3.5307g/ml), apparent porosity (1.8395%-10.1182%), water absorption (0.5439%-3.0611%), linear shrinkage (5.1098%-12.89%), Vickers hardness (KgF/mm2) (329-425.9), and dielectric strength (54.49 kv/mm-74.94kv/mm). the validation of the developed models was determined. To optimize the dielectric strength of the ceramic capacitor sample, the optimum process parameters are at a sintering temperature of 1449.85℃, pressing pressure of 57.9 MPa and soaking time of 2.87hrs. The microstructural investigation of the ce- ramic capacitor for this work was carried out by XRD.