Study of reversible and irreversible magnetization processes of coprecipitated cobalt ferrite

Cobalt ferrite was obtained by coprecipitation of iron and cobalt sulphates into acetone medium. The Co0.62+Fe0.43+[Co0.42+Fe1.63+]O-4 cation distribution was obtained from Mossbauer spectroscopy at room temperature. Saturation magnetization of 74.1 emu/g and an intrinsic coercive field of 528 Oe were measured using a vibrating sample magnetometer. Using the moving Preisach model, separation of reversible (M-rev) and irreversible (M-irr) magnetization components was performed. The parameters eta defined as eta=(dM(rev)/dM(irr))(Hi) and k(m) the moving Preisach parameter expressed through the relation eta=k(m)chi(rev), were evaluated in order to investigate the hysteretic behavior of M-rev. Additional characterization was done in order to investigate the elemental composition, structure, and morphology of the samples. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)23408-7].