High density BaCeO 3 ceramics sintered using microwave irradiation A. S. Vanetsev 1 , A. V. Orlov 2 and Yu. D. Tretyakov 2 1 Chemical Synergy Laboratory, Kurnakov Institute Of General and Inorganic Chemistry RAS, Russian Federation, Moscow, 119991, Leninskii ave. 31. E-mail: synergy@inorg.chem.msu.ru. 2 Department of Materials Science, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Federation, Moscow, 119992, Leninskie Gory. INTRODUCTION Recent investigations of the barrier properties of various materials showed that ceramics based on BaMO 3 (M = Zr, Hf, Ce) phases have the highest resistance against Y(R)–Ba cuprate melts, which are used in the syntheses of high-T c superconductors [1, 2]. However, conventional ceramic technology requires long- term anneals at temperatures above 1500°C to manufacture high-density ceramics based on the aforementioned compounds. Therefore, it is important to develop new sintering techniques with lower sintering temperatures and shorter times. Microwave processing offers a means to solve this problem. Several studies [3, 4] demonstrated the efficiency of microwave sintering in manufacture of oxide and non-oxide ceramics. It is noteworthy that microwave-sintered ceramics have far smaller grain sizes than the analogous ceramics manufactured by conventional thermal processing and possess better mechanical properties. Therefore, we expect ceramics sintered in microwave and thermal fields to significantly differ in their functional properties (mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, and electrophysical properties). Thus, microwave processing not only consumes less energy than thermal processing but also can improve the functional parameters of sintered ceramics. The goal of this work was to investigate the capabilities of high-power microwaves in manufacture of small-grained barium cerate ceramics.