Barium ferrite powders prepared by mechanical alloying and annealing

Purpose: Microstructure and magnetic properties analysis of barium ferrite powder obtained by milling and heat treatment. Design/methodology/approach: The milling process was carried out in a vibratory mill, which generated vibrations of the balls and milled material inside the container during which their collisions occur. After milling process the powders were annealed in electric chamber furnace. The X-ray diffraction methods were used for qualitative phase analysis of studied powder samples. The distribution of powder particles was determined by a laser particle analyzer. The magnetic hysteresis loops of examined powder material were measured by resonance vibrating sample magnetometer (R-VSM). Findings: The milling process of iron oxide and barium carbonate mixture causes decrease of the crystallite size of involved phases. The X-ray vestigations of tested mixture milled for 30 hours and annealed at 950 °C enabled the identification of hard magnetic BaFe12O19 phase and also the presence of Fe2O3 phase in examined material. The Fe2O3 phase is a rest of BaCO3 dissociation in the presence of Fe2O3, which forms a compound of BaFe12O19. The best coercive force (HC) for mixture of powders annealed at 950 °C for 10, 20 and 30 hours is 349 kA/m, 366 kA/m and 364 kA/m, respectively. The arithmetic mean of diameter of Fe2O3 and BaCO3 mixture powders after 30 hours of milling is about 6.0 μm. Practical implications: The barium ferrite powder obtained by milling and annealing can be suitable components to produce sintered and elastic magnets with polymer matrix. Originality/value: The results of tested barium ferrite investigations by different methods confirm their utility in the microstructure and magnetic properties analysis of powder materials