Sintering studies on high field varistors

We studied the sintering behavior of high field chem-prep ZnO varistors using dilatometry and determined how sintering conditions influence the varistor's electrical properties. The dilatometric results indicated that 95% theoretical densities could be obtained with a soak time of only 0.5 hour above 752{degree}C, using a 3{degree}C/min ramp rate; greater shrinkage did not occur for soak temperatures above 752{degree}C. A variety of soak times and temperatures was found to be capable of producing varistors with acceptable electrical properties. The variation in the switching field, E{sub s} (at a current density of 10 A/cm{sup 2}), with soak temperature was found to be significantly less for short soak times than for the standard 16 hour soak time. Annealing sintered pellets at 700{degree}C for 4 hours raised the nonlinearity coefficients by {approximately}25% and decreased E{sub s} by {approximately}10%. This uniform decrease in E{sub s} led to a further reduction in the slope of E{sub s} vs soak temperature for values of E{sub s} in the specified range of interest. Further testing of more samples, of samples from different powder batches, and of samples annealed at various temperatures needs to be performed to verify these results. 19 refs., 10 figs., 1 tab.