Electrical and thermal properties of a (Ba1-x-ySrxCay)TiO3-based PTC thermistor for preheating light oil

Abstract

The electrical properties of a (Ba[Formula: see text]SrxCay)TiO3-based positive temperature coefficient (PTC) thermistor were determined by measuring resistivity with increasing temperature, and its thermal properties were measured with a cartridge heater made of a (Ba[Formula: see text]Sr[Formula: see text]Ca[Formula: see text])TiO3-based PTC thermistor. The (Ba[Formula: see text]SrxCay)TiO3-based PTC thermistor were fabricated by a conventional solid-state reaction method with Sb2O3, BaTiO3, SrTiO3, SiO2, and CaTiO3. Their electrical properties were determined by room temperature resistivity ([Formula: see text]C), minimum resistivity ([Formula: see text]), maximum resistivity ([Formula: see text]), resistivity jump rate (log [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text]), Curie temperature ([Formula: see text]), and withstanding voltage. The effect of the microstructure on the electrical properties was investigated to improve the withstand voltage. The cartridge heater was fabricated with the (Ba[Formula: see text]Sr[Formula: see text]Ca[Formula: see text])TiO3-based PTC thermistor and its thermal properties were determined by the temperature of light oil in a 100 cc beaker. The temperature of light oil was maintained at 60[Formula: see text]C without fluctuations in temperature after reaching 60[Formula: see text]C at 220[Formula: see text]V, and thus (Ba[Formula: see text]SrxCay)TiO3-based PTC thermistor was able to operate as a self-regulating heater element for preheating light oil.