Fabrication of Ferromagnetic Fe/Mullite Composite Materials Via Sol-Gel Processing

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe sol-gel technique was used to fabricate α-Fe/mullite composite materials with iron concentrations ranging from 20–60 wt.% Fe. Microscopy studies showed the microstructure to consist of particulate α-Fe dispersed uniformly throughout a mullite matrix. Iron particle size, estimated by TEM, ranged from 20–500 nm. The materials exhibited ferromagnetic hysteresis with saturation magnetization Ms values as high as 115 EMU/g.