Effect of heat-treatment on microstructure and magnetic properties of nanocrystallized Mn-Zn ferrite powders

Abstract

The initial ferrite powders were subjected to high energy ball milling at 300rpm for 3h, and subsequently heat-treated at 573-1273K for 1h. Based on the observation of microstructure and measurement of magnetic properties, the heat-treatment effect was investigated. The size of initial powders was approximately 70μm. After milling, the powders with approximately 230nm in size were obtained, which were composed of the nano-sized particles of approximately 15nm in size. The milled powders became larger to approximately 550nm after heat-treatment at 973K. In addition, the size of particles increased to approximately 120nm with increasing temperature up to 973K. The coercivity of initial powders was almost unchanged after milling, whereas the saturation magnetization increased. As the heat-treatment temperature increased, the saturation magnetization gradually increased and the maximum coercivity was obtained at 773K.