Enhanced electrocaloric effect of strontium barium niobate ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering

The electrocaloric effect of strontium barium niobate ceramics (SBN) prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and conventional solid-state sintering (CS) were investigated. It was found that ceramics with higher density and smaller grain size were achieved by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process at relatively lower temperature in a shorter period. The electrocaloric temperature change ΔT and the change of entropy ΔS, firstly increased and then decreased as sintering temperature increased, finally they reached a maximum around Curie temperature TC. ΔT and ΔS increased with the rise of electric field change ΔE. Higher dielectric breakdown strength of 80kV/cm, and improved ΔT of 0.51°C were obtained in SBN ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering.