Y-type hexagonal ferrites with the nominal chemical composition Ba 2Ni 2-xZn xFe 12O 22 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6 with a step of 0.1) have been synthesized by the conventional solid state reaction method and sintered in the temperature range 1150℃-1250℃ to study their structural and magnetic properties. The aim of the present work is to increase the magnetic properties of Y-type hexaferrites by Zn substitution. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms the formation of the hexagonal phase. The effect of chemical composition on the lattice parameter, density and porosity is studied. The lattice parameter increases with Zn substitution. The density increases with Zn substitution up to a certain level and after that density decreases. The ac magnetic properties of the hexaferrites sintered at temperature 1200℃ are characterized within the frequency range 100 kHz -120 MHz. The real part (μ i') of the complex initial permeability for different compositions indicates that μ i' decreases with increase in frequency. The permeability increases with the increase in Zn content, reaches a maximum value and then decreases with further increase in Zn content. Magnetization has been measured using the Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometer. The saturation magnetization is observed to be maximum at x = 0.1 and then decreases with Zn content for x > 0.1. From the M-H curve it is clear that at room temperature the polycrystalline Ba 2Ni 2-xZn xFe 12O 22 compositions are in ferrimagnetic state.
Ferrites have continued to attract attention over years. As magnetic materials, ferrites cannot be replaced by any other magnetic material because they are relatively inexpensive, stable and have a wide range of technological applications in transformer core, high quality filters, high and very high frequency circuits and operating devices [
A series of polycrystalline Ba2Ni2–xZnxFe12O22 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6 in the step of 0.1) samples were synthesized using the standard solid state reaction technique. High purity (99.9%) powders of NiO, ZnO, Ba2O3 and Fe2O3, were mixed thoroughly in an appropriate amount. Mixing was performed in the ball mill in a wet medium to increase the degree of mixing. The mixed powders were calcined at 900˚C for 5 hours in air. The calcined powders were crushed into fine powders and toroid and disk shaped samples were prepared from these calcined powders using uniaxial pressure a press of 8 × 108 N/m2. The samples were sintered at temperatures 1150˚C, 1200˚C and 1250˚C in air for 5 hours.
X-ray diffraction analysis was carried out using X-ray diffractometer equipped with CuKα radiation (λ = 1.5418 Å).
The frequency characteristics of the Ba2Ni2–xZnxFe12O22 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6 in the step of 0.1) hexaferrite samples i.e. the complex initial permeability spectra were investigated using Wayne Kerr Precision Impedance Analyzer (model No. 6500B). The complex permeability measurements on toroid shaped specimens were carried out at room temperature on all the samples in the frequency range 100 kHz - 120 MHz. The magnetization (M) measurements as a function of field at room temperature were made on pieces of the samples (approximate dimensions 2 × 1 × 1 mm3) using the Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometer (MPMS-5S; Quantum design Co. Ltd.).
The XRD patterns for various Ba2Ni2–xZnxFe12O22 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6 in the step of 0.1) Y-type hexagonal ferrites are shown in
where h, k and l are the indices of the crystal planes, dhkl is the interplaner distance, and “a” and “c” are the lattice parameters. It is found that Y-type structure has average lattice parameters (a = 5.884 Å and c = 43.6 Å) that agree well with other author [
the Ba2Ni2–xZnxFe12O22. The increase in lattice parameter with increasing Zn content can be explained on the basis of the ionic radii. The ionic radii of the cations used in Ba2Ni2–xZnxFe12O22 are 0.83Å (Ni2+), 0.88Å (Zn2+) and 0.69Å (Fe3+) [
The theoretical density is calculated using following expression [
where n is the number of molecules per unit cell, NA is Avogadro’s number (6.02 ´ 1023 mol–1), M is the molecular weight.
content with minute inconsistency. This increase in density with increasing Zn content can be explained on the basis of the atomic weight. Since the atomic weight of Ni (58.693 amu) is less than that of Zn (65.39 amu) therefore increase in density is expected. The bulk density increases with Zn content up to x = 0.2 and then decreases. This decrease in density is attributed to the increased intra-granular porosity resulting from discontinuous grain growth as proposed by Coble and Burke [
The porosity is calculated from the relation
, where dB is the bulk density measured by the formula dB = M/V [
The increase of the lattice constant usually increases the diffusion path, leading to an increase of the rate of cation interdiffusion in the solid solution. After the certain level (x > 0.2), density begins to decrease, this decrease in density is attributed to the increased intragranular porosity resulting from discontinuous grain growth as proposed by Coble and Burke [
The frequency dependence of the complex permeability
of the samples sintered at 1200˚C is illustrated in
turns of the coil (N = 5), S is the area of cross section of the toroidal sample and is the mean diameter of the sample. decreases monotonically with frequency for all samples up to approximately 50 MHz. Similar results were observed for all the studied samples [
where is the domain wall susceptibility; is intrinsic rotational susceptibility. and may be written as: and
with Ms saturation magnetization, K the total anisotropy, D the average grain diameter, and g the domain wall energy. Thus the domain wall motion is affected by the grain size and enhanced with the increase of grain size. The initial permeability is therefore a function of grain size. The magnetization caused by domain wall movement requires less energy than that required by domain rotation. As the number of walls increases with the grain sizes, the contribution of wall movement to magnetization increases.
Energy loss is an extremely important factor in ferromagnetic materials, since the amount of energy wasted on process other than magnetization can prevent the AC applications of a given material. The ratio of and representing the losses in the material are a measure of the inefficiency of the magnetic system. Obviously this parameter should be as low as possible. The magnetic losses, which cause the phase shift, can be split up into three components: hysteresis losses, eddy current losses and residual losses. This gives the formula. As μi is the initial permeability which is measured in presence of low field, therefore, hysteresis losses vanish at very low field strengths. Thus at low field the remaining magnetic losses are due to eddy current losses and residual losses. Residual losses are independent of frequency. Eddy current losses increase with frequency and are negligible at very low frequency. Eddy current loss can be expressed as, where Pe is the energy loss per unit volume, f is the frequency and ρ is the resistivity [
An intrinsic property such as saturation magnetization (Ms) is controlled by the composition whereas an extrinsic property, the microstructure, is in turns governed by the processing techniques. The magnetization of magnetic materials is a structural sensitive static property (intrinsic property), the magnetic field required to produce the saturation value varies according to the relative geometry of the field to the easy axes and other metallurgical conditions of the material. The magnetization as a function of applied magnetic field, M-H, for polycrystalline Ba2Ni2–xZnxFe12O22 samples at room temperature (300 K) is shown in
compositions with the Zn content is plotted in
magnetization is opposite to the applied magnetic fields). Nonmagnetic ions Zn2+ locating at 6cVI, 6cIV and 6cIV* sites lead to a decrease in the negative magnetization, and thus increase net or total magnetization. Near room temperature, the saturation magnetization Ms will decrease more rapidly for the samples with higher Zn concentration on account of the effect of thermal agitation. Hence, Ms decreases rapidly when Zn concentration is higher than 0.1.
The XRD patterns for the polycrystalline Ba2Ni2–xZnx Fe12O22 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6 in the step of 0.1) compositions confirm the formation of Y-type hexaferrites. Lattice parameter increases with increasing of Zn content for almost all the compositions. The ionic radius of Ni2+ is less than that of Zn2+ and increase in lattice parameters with the increase in Zn substitution is expected. The bulk density of the samples increases and the corresponding porosity of the samples decreases with increasing of Zn content up to x = 0.2 and then both factors decrease. Initial permeability value increases with increasing Zn content and maximum at x = 0.3. It is observed from permeability vs. frequency curves that the natural resonance phenomenon is not observed in μi' within measurement frequency range. This implies that their cut off frequency lies in the high frequency region. Therefore it can be used for microwave application. From the M-H curve it is clear that at room temperature the polycrystalline Ba2Ni2–xZnxFe12O22 compositions are in ferrimagnetic state.
The present study was supported by CASR, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). The authors would like to thank Prof. Tomoji Kawai of ISIR, Osaka University, Japan, for allowing them to use his laboratory facilities.