Reentrant spin glass behavior and large initial permeability of Co0.5-xMnxZn0.5Fe2O4

A series of polycrystalline ferrites having nominal chemical composition Co0.50-xMnZn0.5Fe2O4 (0 < x < 0.4) have been synthesized by the solid-state reaction technique. The XRD analysis confirms single phase cubic spinel structure for all compositions. Lattice constant increases from 0.84195 to 0.84429 nm with the increasing Mn content and obeys Vegard's law. The average grain size increases by increasing both Mn content and sintering temperatures. Room temperature saturation magnetization increases for x=0.1 and decreases for increasing Mn content. The coercivity decreases with increasing Mn content due to the decrease of anisotropy constant. A reentrant spin glass behavior of these samples is observed from the zero field cooled magnetization measurements. The real part of the initial permeability increases by increasing both Mn content and sintering temperatures. This is due to the homogeneous grain growth and densification of the ferrites. The highest initial permeability 137 is observed for x=0.4 sintered at 1573 K on the other hand, the highest relative quality factor (2522) is obtained for the sample Co0.2Mn0.3Zn0.5Fe2O4 sintered at 1523 K. The Mn substituted Co0.50-xMnxZn0.5Fe2O4 ferrites showed improved magnetic properties. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.