Effect of calcination conditions on the magnetic properties of MnZn ferrites powders produced by co precipitation

MnZn ferrites are conventionally produced by the ceramic method that involves the solid state reaction of metallic oxides or carbonates at high temperatures. The particles obtained by this method are rather large and non-uniform in size. In order to overcome the difficulties arising out of the ceramic process, the coprecipitation method has been used as an alternative route to produce chemically homogeneous powders with fine particle size. In this work MnZn ferrites powders were produced by the coprecipitation method. The calcination conditions, such as temperature (900 degrees C to 1100 degrees C) and atmosphere (air and nitrogen), were investigated. X ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, thermomagnetic analysis and vibration sample magnetometry were used to characterize the obtained samples. The results indicated that when the samples were calcined in nitrogen atmosphere, the ferrite formation occurred at low calcination temperatures and presented better magnetic properties than those calcined in air.