Investigation on the effects of milling atmosphere on synthesis of barium ferrite/magnetite nanocomposite

In this research, barium ferrite /magnetite nanocomposites synthesized via a mechano-chemical route. Graphite was used in order to reduce hematite content of barium ferrite to magnetite to produce a magnetic nanocomposite. The effects of processing conditions on the powder characteristics were investigated by XRD, VSM, and HRTEM techniques. XRD results revealed that milling under air and argon atmospheres resulted in the appearance of Fe3O4 peaks beside BaFe12O19 peaks after 15 and 20 hrs milling, respectively. The intensity of Fe3O4 peaks in the XRD patterns increased by increasing the milling time. VSM studies revealed that saturation magnetization of the 40-hrs milled samples under air and argon atmospheres was 31.25 and 36.42 emu/g, respectively. This difference might be due to more Fe3O4 content in the latter sample. By annealing of the 40-hrs milled sample in air, saturation magnetization increased to 139.12 emu/g.Nanostructured MaterialsApplied Science