Magnetic and Thermal Studies of Zn Doped Forsterite Ceramic Nanomaterial

Abstract

The present study emphasizes the unique magnetic and thermal properties of nano-ceramic forsterite (pure and Zn doped) powder synthesized by mechanical activation technique and subsequent annealing, using the raw materials talc, periclase and zinc oxide. The structural properties of the samples were studied using XRD technique. The magnetic measurements of pure and the cation Zn²⁺ substituted samples were done by using Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) at room temperature. The hysteresis (M-H) curves were obtained for both the samples and they clearly show the existence of ferromagnetic behavior of the as synthesized samples. The results of VSM analysis show that the saturation magnetization (M_s), the coercive field (H_c) and retentivity (M_r) were found to be increased with Zn doping. The values of Ms for the undoped and doped forsterite nanomaterials are found to be 9.47 × 10^-3 emu/g and 13.68 × 10^-3 emu/g respectively. The thermal behaviour of the samples was investigated using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) technique over a temperature range of 30-450°C. The specific heat capacities for the samples were also calculated using the DSC data.