Study of infrared spectroscopy and elastic properties of fine and coarse grained nickel–cadmium ferrites

The elastic properties of Cd x Ni1−x Fe2O4 (x = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8) spinel ferrite system synthesized by wet-chemical technique, have been studied by infra-red spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction pattern analysis before (W) and after high temperature annealing (AW). The average particle size for wet-samples was within the range 4–5 nm, which is much lower than the average particle size found for AW samples (≈85 nm). The force constants for tetrahedral and octahedral sites determined by infrared spectral analysis, lattice constant and X-ray density values by X-ray diffraction pattern analysis; have been used to calculate elastic constants. The elastic moduli for W-samples are found to be larger as compared to AW samples, which are explained on the basis of grain size reduction effect. The average crystallite size calculated from elastic data is in agreement to that determined from X-ray diffraction data analysis.