STUDIA UBB CHEMIA, LXIV, 2, Tom II, 2019 (p. 447-456) (RECOMMENDED CITATION) DOI:10.24193/subbchem.2019.2.38 Dedicated to Professor Ioan Bâldea on the Occasion of His 80 th Anniversary INFLUENCE OF THE BALL MILLING PROCESS AND AIR SINTERING CONDITIONS ON THE SYNTHESIS OF La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 CERAMICS ENIKŐ BITAY a* , ANA-MARIA PILBAT b , EMIL INDREA c , IRÉN KACSÓ c , MÁRTON MÁTÉ a , ATTILA LEVENTE GERGELY a , ERZSÉBET VERESS d* ABSTRACT. Conventional solid-state synthesis was used to produce mixed valence manganite La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (LCMO) from the mechanochemically activated mixture of the corresponding metal oxides. Prepared samples were characterized by XRD and SEM measurements. The results showed that it is possible to produce single phase LCMO perovskite after at least 2h of ball milling of the reaction mixture, followed by 1400 ºC sintering of the dry- pressed sample pellets. The prolonged milling time as well as the higher sintering temperature leads to further stabilization of crystal structure. Keywords: perovskite manganites, LCMO, mechanochemical synthesis, XRD, SEM, microstructural characterization INTRODUCTION Due the practical significance of their outstanding magneto-electric properties (high temperature superconductivity, huge magneto-resistance, magneto-caloric and magneto-optical effect, spin-glass state), there is an ever growing interest towards the mixed oxidic ceramic systems containing transition a Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Faculty of Technical and Human Sciences, OP 9 CP 4, RO-540485 Targu-Mures, Romania b Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Temesvári krt. 62, H-6726 Szeged, Hungary c National Institute for Research and Developement of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Donath Str. 65-103, RO-400293 Cluj, Romania d Transylvanian Museum Society, Napoca Str. 2-4, RO-400750 Cluj, Romania * Corresponding authors: ebitay@ms.sapientia.ro; veresserzsebet@gmail.com