Investigation of magnetic properties of Ni0.2Cu0.2Zn0.6Fe1.96O4–BaTiO3 composites

Abstract Composite materials with a ferromagnetic Ni 0.2 Cu 0.2 Zn 06 Fe 1.96 O 4 phase and a ferroelectric BaTiO 3 phase, x BaTiO 3 –(1− x )Ni 0.2 Cu 0.2 Zn 0.6 Fe 1.96 O 4 , in which x varies from 0 to 1, have been prepared via standard ceramics method with nanosized precursor powders. With the variation of x , typical magnetic hysteresis loops of composites have been observed in the composites at the room temperature. When the content of ferroelectric BaTiO 3 phase increases, the saturation magnetization and initial permeability decrease. Meanwhile, the coercive force tends to increase. Additionally, the cut-off frequency and quality factor of composite materials shift toward higher frequency. The simultaneous presence of nonmagnetic BaTiO 3 in composites pinned the domain wall motion, which lead to the decrease of initial permeability and the increase of cut-off frequency. Microstructure observation shows that the composites possess very fine crystalline grains.