INVESTING MICRODSTRUCTURE AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF Sr HEXAFERRITE COMPOSITES DOPPED WITH Cu/La BY SELF-COMBUSTION METHOD

Strontium hexaferrite M-type nanoparticles doped with La and Cu (SrFe12-xCuxO19-Sr1-xLaxFe12-xCuxO19) with different mole fractions (x=0.1-0.2-0.3-0.4-0.5) synthesized by self-combustion sol-gel technique. Firstly, a gel of metal nitrates with the above-mentioned mole fractions were fabricated and the obtained powder was cured at 950°C. Microstructural properties and the morphology of the compounds were investigated by employing X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Also, in order to investigate the magnetic properties, Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) was used. SEM images revealed that the particles had an average size of about 100 nm. Cu2+ ions were substituted with Fe3+ ions within the crystalline sites of SrFe12O19 structure. It was shown that the lattice parameter (a) remained approximately unchanged with an increase in Cu-dopped while the lattice parameter (c) decreased with increasing the mole fraction (x). By using VSM hysteresis diagrams, it was observed that the saturated magnetization and coercive force increased with the addition of La; this was attributed to the variation in the distribution of ions and the shape anisotropy of the nanoparticles. These significant changes in the magnetic properties were for the sample with the composition of Sr1-xLaxFe12-xCuxO19 and SrFe12-xCuxO19, for the x=0.1 and x=0.5, respectively.