Effect of composition on structural and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline ball milled Ni1−xZnxFe2O4 ferrite (original) (raw)

Nanocrystalline Ni 1 À x Zn x Fe 2 O 4 (x=0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1) ferrite was produced by high energy ball milling of ZnO, NiO and Fe 2 O 3 powder mixtures. X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) were carried out to investigate structural, chemical and magnetic aspects of Ni-Zn ferrite. Ni 1 À x Zn x Fe 2 O 4 appeared to form in two stages involving formation of Zn ferrite by faster diffusion of ZnO in Fe 2 O 3 followed by diffusion of NiO in Zn ferrite to form Ni-Zn ferrite. The crystallite size of final product after 60 h of ball milling for all samples was found to be $ 18 nm independent of composition. It was found that the magnetization value of Ni 1 À x Zn x Fe 2 O 4 initially increases and then decreases as Zn content increases with a maximum value of 83.2 emu/g at x= 0.5. The coercivity value of Ni 1 À x Zn x Fe 2 O 4 decreases steadily with increasing Zn content.