Effect of Mn substitution on the cation distribution and temperature dependence of magnetic anisotropy constant in Co1−xMnxFe2O4 (0.0≤x≤0.4) ferrites

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Abstract The effect of Mn substitution on temperature dependent magnetic properties of Mn substituted cobalt ferrite, i.e., Co1−xMnxFe2O4 (x=0.0–0.4), prepared by a ceramic method has been investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that all samples posses a single phase cubic spinel structure. The lattice constant determined from XRD increases with Mn substitution whereas the bulk density of the samples decreases. Mossbauer results reveal that Co, Fe and Mn ions are distributed over the tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) sites for the prepared samples. Hysteresis loops yield a saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercive field (Hc) that vary significantly with temperature and Mn content (x). The temperature dependence of the magnetization obtained for μoH=5 T presents a maximum at 175 K which is also dependent on the value of x. The high field regimes of the hysteresis loops are modeled using the Law of Approach to Saturation (LAS) to determine the first-order cubic anisotropy coefficient (K1). It has been found that the anisotropy of these materials increases significantly with decreasing temperature. However, below 175 K, the shape of the anisotropy energy function changes significantly causing a first-order magnetization process (FOMP) at higher fields, which also prevents the magnetization to saturate even under a maximum applied field of 5 T. In general, the anisotropy coefficient decreases with increasing Mn substitution at a given temperature, which could be explained in terms of the site occupancy of the Mn2+ substituent in the cubic spinel lattice.