Magnetic and microwave absorption properties of neodymium doped nickel ferrite using milling technique

Abstract

Nickel ferrite doped by neodymium in the form of (Ni(1-x)NdxFe2O4) with (x = 0.0; 0.2 and 0.4) have been synthesized using solid state reaction method with milling technique from NiO, Nd2O3 and Fe2O3 powder. The mixture of those compound materials was milled using High Energy Milling (HEM) machine for 10 hours and then sintered at 1000 °C for 5 h. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that a single phase of spinel ferrite has been formed in all of the compositions. The result of morphological observation using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) exhibited a homogeneous structure has been formed with particle size about 200 nm. The magnetic measurement using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) showed that the sample exhibited a ferromagnetic behavior, where the Ms value decrease (around of 58.4 to 39.40 emu/g) and value of Hc increased (around of 116-170 Oe) along with the addition of the Nd3+ ion (x values) content. While the ability of microwaves absorption measured by using Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) indicates that the maximum value of Reflection Loss (RL) obtained at the composition of x = 0.4 up to-29 dB at a frequency of 10.81 GHz. It means the Ni0,6Nd0,4Fe2O4 sample can absorb microwave up to ~ 96.5% at a frequency of 10.81 GHz.