Effect of sintering temperature on structural and magnetic properties of Mg-Cu-Zn ferrite prepared by sol-gel method

Abstract

Cu0.5-xMgxZn0.5Fe2O4 (x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5) ferrite prepared by sol-gel method and characterized. The samples were sintered at 1000, 1100 and 1200°C for 4 h. The effect of chemical composition and sintering temperature on structural and magnetic properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and susceptometer. The effect of substituting magnesium with copper in Mg-Zn ferrite is to decrease the sintering temperature in order to obtain well crystalline samples. The grain size increases with increasing copper content and increasing sintering temperature have significant effect on it. Significant enhancement of grain growth was observed for samples with x=0-0.1 which sintered at 1200°C. Results show that copper content has significant influence on magnetic properties. Saturation magnetization increases with increasing of copper content at 1000 and 1100°C but at 1200°C increases up to x=0.2 and then decreased. Coercive force was decreased by adding copper ions and effective magnetic susceptibility was increased by increasing of copper concentration.