The microstructure and electrical behavior of TiO₂ varistors processed by magnetized water

A comparative study of the microstructures of two kinds of TiO₂ based varistor materials processed from the slurry using magnetized water and regular deionized water is conducted. The additives in the form of oxides of Nb, Ce, Ca, and Si were used in the recipe. The electrical behavior reveals that the water magnetized at 0.2 T yielded lower varistor voltage while the water magnetized at 0.3 T yielded higher varistor voltage compared to the regular deionized water. A second phase comprising of Ce, Si, and Ti was found in each of these samples. The distribution of second phase was found strongly dependent on the type of water used. Thus, the magnetized water shows influence on the TiO₂ varistor microstructures. It apprehended that the application of magnetized water in the general arena of advanced electronic ceramics may bring novel experimental results as demonstrated in the present work.