Cobalt ferrite is a ferrimagnetic magnetostrictive ceramic that has potential application in magnetoelastic and magnetoelectric transducers. In this work, CoFe(2)O(4) was obtained using a conventional ceramic method and Bi(2)O(3) was used as additive in order to obtain liquid-phase sintered samples. Bi(2)O(3) was added to the ferrite in amounts ranging from 0.25 mol% to 0.45 mol% and samples were sintered at 900 °C and 950 °C. It was observed the presence of Bi-containing particles in the microstructure of the sintered samples and the magnetostriction results indicated microstructural anisotropy. It was verified that it is possible to get dense cobalt ferrites, liquid-phase sintered, with relative densities higher than 90% and with magnetostriction values very close to samples sintered without additives.
Keywords: ceramics processing; ferrites; liquid-phase sintering; magnetic ceramics; magnetoelastic sensitivity; magnetomechanical sensors; magnetostriction.