Synthesis and magnetic properties of Co–Ti–Bi codoped M-type barium ferrite

Abstract

The effects of Co2+, Ti4+, and Bi3+ substitution on the microstructures and properties of low-temperature fired M-type barium hexaferrites have been studied in order to adapt the development of low-temperature cofired ferrites technology and produce gyromagnetic devices with a multilayer process. It is found that Bi3+ ions can enter into the 2a sublattice and consequently enhance the grain growth and densification due to the activation of the lattice, which in turn first lead to an increase and then a decrease of Ms. The substitution of Bi3+ ions is beneficial to forming the M phase and lowers the sintering temperature to about 900 °C, which is ideal for cofiring with silver paste. Scanning electron microscope and x-ray diffraction analysis have shown that the samples have excellent crystalline grains with a uniform size about 1–2 μm. Moreover, nonmagnetic Ti4+ ions prefer to enter the 4fVI octahedral sites, giving rise to the weakening of the strong 12k-4fVI superexchange path and thus the isotropic exchange energy approaches the other second-order terms on the magnetic Hamiltonian, such as the antisymmetric interaction or even the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. With increasing the substitution content, some Co2+ ions, which locate in octahedral 12k sites, give a strong planar contribution to the anisotropy. Therefore, Ms and Hc decrease with the Co–Ti-substitution.