Papers by Author: Krystyna Prociów

Abstract: Varistors obtained by sintering zinc oxide with additives were investigated. In this work the crystalline microstructure of ZnO varistor body is studied by X-ray diffraction method, before and after additional annealing. The crystalline microstructure is characterised by the prevalent crystallite shape, the volume-weighted crystallite size distribution, the second-order crystalline lattice strain distribution and the derivative quantities. The evolution of these characteristics, particularly of bimodal size distribution, elucidate some details of the formation of crystalline zinc oxide and provide additional arguments for explaining the change of the electric characteristics of varistors induced by annealing.

Abstract: In this work the laboratory–scale installation for synthesising powder materials with nano-size grains is presented. Nano-sized zinc and tin oxides were obtained using the spraypyrolysis (SP) method. The zinc oxide was derived from zinc acetate at 300oC, 430oC, 580 oC, 800oC and 950oC. The tin oxide was processed by the thermal decomposition of tin tartrate at 500oC. The SP synthesized zinc oxide was used for manufacturing a methane sensor which was characterized as possessing a much wider range of operating and substantially higher sensitivity, 10 times higher, to methane gas compared to a sensor made out of commercially available zinc oxide.

Abstract: Metal oxide modified Bi2O3 finds the application in metal oxide varistors and as ionic conductors. Electrical properties of MeO-modified Bi2O3 change with MeO modifier and sintering temperature. In this paper we report how to predict Bi2O3 electrical properties using simulation model. Measurements of the electrical response of the modified Bi2O3 oxides were carried out using the impedance spectroscopic technique. As a result an equivalent model of electrical behaviour of modified Bi2O3, described by fractional derivates was proposed. To test the model, the series of simulation were run on computer, and after subjecting the results to verification the equivalent parameters of electrical circuit were determined. Model was elaborated with the view of facilitating the research on metal oxide ionic conductors and varistors.

Abstract: Because of their unusual properties – non-ohmic behavior and the ability to absorb a lot of energy – metal-oxide varistors are widely used for the protection of electrical and electronic devices against over-voltages. ZnO ceramics have varistor properties because of their metal-oxide additives and the microstructures developed during sintering. The value of the varistor voltage depends largely on the number of conducting ZnO grains between the electrodes; this can be set by controlling the thickness of the device or the size of the grains. The desired grain size can be achieved by altering the composition of the metal-oxide additives and the sintering conditions. In this work the grain growth was controlled by combining two ZnO powders of differing sinterability in the starting material. Also, the use of BaBiO2.77 as a precursor for Bi2O3 is an innovation in varistor technology that makes it possible to reduce the amount of added metal oxides. As a result, a variety of varistors with good varistor properties and a wide range of working parameters were produced.