Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nanocrystalline magnetic alloys and ceramics

  • Published:
Sadhana Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Magnetic properties of materials in their nanocrystalline state have assumed significance in recent years because of their potential applications. A number of techniques have been used to prepare nanocrystalline magnetic phases. Melt spinning, high energy ball milling, sputtering, glassceramization and molecular beam epitaxy are some of the physical methods used so far. Among the chemical methods, sol-gel and co-precipitation routes have been found to be convenient. Ultrafine particles of both ferro- and ferrimagnetic systems show superparamagnetic behaviour at room temperature. Coercivity(H c ) and maximum energy product(BH) max of the magnetic particles can be changed by controlling their sizes. The present paper reviews all these aspects in the case of nanocrystalline magnetic systems — both metallic and ceramics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bauer J, Seeger M, Zern A, Kronmuller H 1996 Nanocrystalline FeNdB permanent magnets with enhanced remanence.J. Appl. Phys. 80: 1667–1673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang W C, Hsing D M 1996 Magnetic properties and transmission electron microscopy microstructures of exchange coupled Nd12-xFe82+xB6 melt spun ribbons.J. Appl. Phys. 79: 4843–4845

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang W C, Chiou D Y, Wu S H 1998 High performance α-Fe/Nd2Fe14B type nanocomposites.Appl. Phys. Lett. 72: 121–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang W C, Chiou D Y, Wu S H 1998 The effect of boron and rare earth contents on the magnetic properties of La and Cr substituted α-Fe/R2Fe14B type nanocomposites.J. Appl. Phys. 83: 6271–6273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee A, Das D, Chakravorty D, Choudhury K 1990 Mössbauer spectra of nanocrystalline Fe and Fe-Cr particles in sol-gel derived SiO2, glass.Appl. Phys. Lett. 57: 1360–1362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chien C L 1991Science & technology of nanostructured magnetic materials (eds) G C Hadjipanayis, G A Prinz (New York: Plenum)

    Google Scholar 

  • Chinnasamy C N, Narayansamy A, Ponpandian N, Chattopadhyay K, Guerault H, Greneche J -M 2001 Ferrimagnetic ordering in nanostructured zinc ferrite.Scr. Mater. 44: 1407–1410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chinnasamy C N, Narayansamy A, Ponpandian N, Joseyphus R J, Chattopadhyay K, Shinoda K, Jeyadevan B, Tohji K, Nakatsuka K, Guerault H, Greneche J-M 2001 Structure and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline ferromagnetic CdFe2O4 spinel.Scr. Mater. 44: 1411–1415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chudnovsky E M, Günther L 1988 Quantum tunneling of magnetization in small ferromagnetic particles.Phys. Rev. Lett. 60: 661–664

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Clémente G B, Keem J E, Bradley J P 1988 The microstructure and compositional influence upon HIREM behaviour in Nd2Fe14B.J. Appl. Phys. 64: 5299–5301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croat J J, Herbst J F, Lee R W, Pinkerton F E 1984 Pr-Fe and Nd-Fe-based materials: A new class of high-performance permanent magnets.J. Appl. Phys. 55: 2078–2082

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cui B Z, Sun X K, Xiong L Y, Liu W, Zhang Z D, Yang Z Q, Wang A M 2001 Effect of preparation process on structure and magnetic properties of Nd2Fe14B/α-Fe type nanocomposite magnets.J. Mater. Res. 16: 709–715

    Google Scholar 

  • Datta A, Pal M, Chakravorty D, Das D, Chintalapudi S N 1999 Disorder in nanocrystalline Ni3Fe.J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 205: 301–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dormann J L, Fiorani D 1992Magnetic properties of fine particles (Amsterdam: North-Holland)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang J -S, Hsieh M -F, Chen S -K, Chin T -S 1997 Magnetic properties and structure of Nd (Fe,B) nanocomposite alloys with fixed Fe/B ratio at 4.14.Jap. J. Appl. Phys. 36: 6316–6324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez J, Montera M I, Crespo P, Marin P, Hernando 2000 Hysteresis and relaxation of hard-soft nanocomposite samples.J. Appl. Phys. 87: 4759–4761

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamdeh H H, Ho J C 1997 Magnetic properties of partially inverted zinc ferrite aerogel powders.J. Appl. Phys. 81: 1851–1857

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hidaka T, Yamamoto T, Nakamura H, Fukuno A 1998 High remanence (Sm, Zr)Fe7Nx + α-Fe nanocomposite magnets through exchange coupling.J. Appl. Phys. 83: 6917–6919

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Imry Y, Ma S-K 1975 Random-field instability of the order state of continuous symmetry.Phys. Rev. Lett. 35: 1399–1401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inoue N, Kawamura Y, Morimoto K 1997 Molecular beam epitaxy.Handbook of nanophase materials (ed.) A N Goldstien (New York: Marcel Dekker) pp 83–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim W C, Lee C W, Kim C S 2001 Magnetic properties of Co-Bi ferrite powders and thin films by a sol-gel method.Scr. Mater. 44: 1451–1455

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kittel C 1946 Theory of the structure of ferromagnetic domains in films and small particles.Phys. Rev. 70: 965–971

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knella E F, Luborsky F E 1963 Particle size dependency of coercivity and remanence of single domain particles.J. Appl. Phys. 34: 656–658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kodama R H, Berkowitz A E, McNiff E J, Jr Foner S 1996 Surface spin disorder in NiFe2O4 nanoparticles.Phys. Rev. Lett. 77: 394.397

    Google Scholar 

  • Koutani S, Gavoille G 1994 Magnetic behaviour of nanocrystalline cobalt ferrite films.J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 138: 237–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kubo O, Ido T, Yokohama H, Koike Y 1985 Particle size effects on magnetic properties of BaFel2-2x TixCoxO19 fine particles.J. Appl. Phys. 57: 4280–4282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kundu T, Chakravorty D 1999 Nanocrystalline MnFe2O4 produced by niobium doping.J. Mater. Res. 14: 3957–3961

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuwabara S, Ishii K, Haneda S, Kondo T, Munekata H 2001 Preparation of wurtzite GaN based magnetic alloy semiconductors by molecular beam epitaxy.Physica E10: 224.228

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu J P, Liu Y, Skomski R, Sellmyer D J 1999 Magnetic hardening in SmCox-Co multilayers and nanocomposites.J. Appl. Phys. 85: 4812–4814

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J P, Luo C P, Liu Y, Sellmyer D J 1998 High energy product in rapidly annealed nanoscale Fe/Pt multilayers.Appl. Phys. Lett. 72: 483–485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo C P, Liou S H, Gao L 2000 Nanostructured FePt:B2O3 thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.Appl. Phys. Lett 77: 2225–2227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manaf A, Buckley R A, Davies H A, Leonowiez M 1991 Enhanced magnetic properties in rapidly solidified Nd-Fe-B based alloys.J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 101: 360–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mantinez B, Obradors X, Balcells Ll, Rouanet A, Monty C 1998 Low temperature surface spin-glass transition in γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles.Phys. Rev. Lett. 80: 181–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maya L, Thompson J R, Song K J, Warmack R J 1998 Thermal conversion of an iron nitride-silicon nitride precursor into a ferromagnetic nanocomposites.J. Chem. Phys. 83: 905–910

    Google Scholar 

  • McCormick P G, Miao W F, Smith P A I, Ding J, Street R 1998 Mechanically alloyed nanocomposite magnets.J. Appl. Phys. 83: 6256–6261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell K, Coey J M D 1997 Characterization of hard magnetic two-phase mechanically alloyed Sm2Fe17N3/α-Fe nanocomposites.J. Appl. Phys. 81: 6310–6321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pal M, Brahma P, Chakravorty D, Bhattacharyya D, Maiti H S 1997 Preparation of nanocrystalline barium hexaferrite in a glass medium.Nanostruct. Mater. 8: 731–738

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pal M, Brahma P, Chakravorty D, Bhattacharyya D, Maiti H S 1996J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 164: 256–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pal M, Das D, Chintalapudi S N, Chakravorty D 2000 Preparation of nanocomposites containing iron and nickel-zinc ferrite.J. Mater. Res. 15: 683–688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pannaparayil T, Komarneni S 1991 Hyperfine fields and particle size distribution in small particles Mn-Zn ferrites.Phys. Status Solidi A126: 443–450

    Google Scholar 

  • Pardos C, Multigner M, Hernando A, Sanchez J C, Fernandez A, Conde C F, Conde A 1999 Dependence of exchange anisotropy and coercivity on the Fe-oxide structure in oxygen-passivated Fe-nanoparticles.J. Appl. Phys. 85: 6118–6120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker F T, Spada F F, Cox T J, Berkowitz A E 1996 Mössbauer effect study of metal particle tape stability.J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 162: 122–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkin S S, More N, Roche K P 1990 Oscillations in exchange coupling and magnetoresistance in metallic superlattice structures: Co/Ru, Co/Cr and Fe/Co.Phys. Rev. Lett. 64: 2304.2307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pathak A, Paramanik P 2000Nanoparticles of oxides through chemical route (Nanomaterials) (ed.) D Chakravorty D pp. 47–70

  • Ping D H, Hono K 1998 Partitioning of Ga and Co atoms in a Fe3B / Nd2Fe14B nanocomposite magnet.J. Appl. Phys. 83: 7769–7775

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy R 1987 Ceramics by the solution-sol-gel route.Science 238: 1664.1669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan D H, Feutrill E H, Ding J 1997 Magnetization process in a two phase exchange coupled system: A microscopic study.J. Appl. Phys. 81: 4425–4427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabiryanov R F, Jaswal S S 1998 Electronic structure and magnetic properties of hard/soft multilayers.J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 177–181 989

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sankarnarayan V K, Pankhurst Q A, Dickson D P E, Johnson C E 1993 An investigation of particle size effects in ultrafine barium ferrite.J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 125: 199–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sato T, Haneda K, Seki M, Iijima T 1990 Morphology and magnetic properties of ultrafine ZnFe2O4 particles.Appl. Phys. A50: 13–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Stavroyiannis S, Panagiotopoulos I, Niarchos D 1998 CoPt/Ag nanocomposites for high density recording media.Appl. Phys. Lett. 73: 3453–3455

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stavroyiannis S, Panagiotopoulos I, Niarchos D 1999 New CoPt/Ag nanocomposites for high density recording media.J. Appl. Phys. 85: 4304.4306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun X K, Zhang J, Chu Y, Liu W, Cui B, Zhang Z 1999 Dependence of magnetic properties on grain size of α-Fe in nanocomposite (Nd,Dy)(Fe,Co,Nd,B)5.5 /α-Fe magnets.Appl. Phys. Lett. 14: 1740–1742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang Z X, Sorensen C M, Klabunnde K J 1991 Size-dependent curie temperature in nanoscale MnFe2O4 perticles.Phys. Rev. Lett. 67: 3602–3605

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tokumitsu K, Nasu T 2001 Preparation of lamellar structured α-Fe/Fe3O4 complex particle by thermal decomposition of wustite.Scr. Mater. 44: 1421–1424

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang C J, Roy R 1988 Development of texture in extruded Fe-Nd-B magnets.J. Appl. Phys. 64: 5296–5298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoneyama T, Yamamoto T, Hidaka T 1995 Magnetic properties of rapidly quenched high remanence Zr added Sm-Fe-N isotropic powders.Appl. Phys. Lett. 67: 3197–3199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu M, Liu Y, Moser A, Weller D, Sellmyer D J 1999 Nanocomposite CoPt:C films for extremely high-density recording.Appl. Phys. Lett. 75: 3992–3994

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yung S W, Chang Y H, Lin T J, Hung M P 1992 Magnetic properties and micro structure of ironplatinum thin films.J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 116: 411–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeng H, Yan M L 2001 CoPtCr:C nanocomposite films for high density recording.J. Appl. Phys. 89: 810–812

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang D, Klabunde K J, Sorensen C M, Hadijipanayis G C 1998 Magnetization temperature dependence in iron nanoparticles.Phys. Rev. B58: 14167–14170

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang W, Inoue A 2001 Influence of ribbon thickness on the formation and magnetic properties of melt spun Fe-Co-Nd-B metallic glasses.J. Appl. Phys. 89: 1509–1511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X Y, Zhang J W, Wang W K 2001 Effect of pressure on the microstructure of α-Fe/Sm2 (Fe,Si)17 Cx nanocomposite magnets.J. Appl. Phys. 89: 477–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, 700 032, Kolkata, India

    M. Pal & D. Chakravorty

Authors
  1. M. Pal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. D. Chakravorty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pal, M., Chakravorty, D. Nanocrystalline magnetic alloys and ceramics. Sadhana 28, 283–297 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02717138

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02717138

Keywords

Search

Navigation