ENHANCEMENT IN MECHANICAL STRENGTH OF SLOW-COOLED QUADRUPLE PEROVSKITE CaCu3Ti4O12 BY MICROWAVE-ASSISTED HEATING, AND RAPID THERMAL COOLING PROCESS

The results of microwave-assisted heating and quenching process-induced modifications in elastic properties and lattice energy of slow-cooled microcrystalline CaCu3Ti4O12.quadruple perovskite are presented. The X-ray density and mean atomic weight-based semi-empirical method was used to calculate longitudinal wave velocity that was further used to compute Debye temperature, several elastic constants, shear wave, and average sound velocities. The magnitude of elastic constants for microwave-assisted and quenched samples was found to enhance compared to the slow-cooled sample. The lattice energy values for microcrystalline ceramics were found to be smaller when compared with the lattice energy values for monocrystalline counterparts computed from three distinct approaches. It was found that the thermal history-induced modifications in structural and microstructural parameters govern the mechanical strength of the material.