OPTIMIZATION of DYNAMIC CH4 GAS HEAT TREATMENT OF NANOCRYSTALLINE STRONTIUM HEXAFERRITE

Abstract

In this research the influence of dynamic CH 4 heat treatment on Sr -hexaferrite has been investigated. With the gas heat treatment, the phase composition, particles size and the morphology of Sr -hexaferrite change significantly. Due to this, the hard magnetic nature of the material changes from hard to soft. The strontium hexaferrite powder was prepared by conventional route with calcination of the mixture of strontium carbonate and hematite at 1100°C for 1 hour. Then the resultant Sr -hexaferrite was isothermally heat treated in methane dynamic atmosphere at various temperatures and gas flows for different times. The rate of heating and cooling were 10°C/min. The optimum conditions were obtained at 950°C and 15CC/min flow for 0.5 hour. The effects of gas heat treatment on the phase composition and the particles size and morphology were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Vibration Sample Magnetometery (VSM) techniques. The results show the decomposition of Sr -hexaferrite and reduction of the resultant hematite mainly to iron. The crystallite size of the resultant iron was also measured below 50nm.