The influence of mechanochemical activation and thermal treatment on magnetic properties of the BaTiO3 -FexOy powder mixture

Abstract

Powder mixture of 50 mass % of barium titanate (BaTiO3) and 50 mass % of iron (Fe) was prepared by solid-state reaction technique, i.e. ball milled in air for 60 min, 80 min, 100 min, 120 min and 150 min. During mechanochemical activation it was observed the iron powder transitsion to iron oxides. Depending on the activation time the content of iron oxides FeO, Fe2 O3 and Fe3O4 varies. Simultaneously, with the content change of the activated system, magnetic properties change as well. The XRD analysis of milled samples shown that as the activation time increase, the iron oxide percentage increases to, whereby the percentage of BaTiO3 in a total sample mass decreases. The percentage of iron oxides and BaTiO3 in annealed samples changes depending on annealing temperature. The thermomagnetic measurements performed by Faraday method shown that the powder mixture milled for 100 minutes exhibit maximum magnetization prior to annealing. The increase of magnetization maximum was observed after annealing at 540 oC with all milled samples, and at room temperature it has enhancement from 10 % to 22 % depending on the activation time. The samples milled for 100 min and 150 min and then sintered at 1200 oC exhibit magnetoelectric properties.