Effect of Chemical Composition on Magnetic and Electrical Properties of Ferroelectromagnetic Ceramic Composites

Dariusz Bochenek; Przemysław Niemiec; Artur Chrobak

doi:10.3390/ma14102488

Effect of Chemical Composition on Magnetic and Electrical Properties of Ferroelectromagnetic Ceramic Composites

Materials (Basel). 2021 May 11;14(10):2488. doi: 10.3390/ma14102488.

Authors

Dariusz Bochenek¹, Przemysław Niemiec¹, Artur Chrobak²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Science and Technology, Institute of Materials Engineering, University of Silesia in Katowice, 41-500 Chorzów, Poland.
² Faculty of Science and Technology, Institute of Physics, University of Silesia in Katowice, 41-500 Chorzów, Poland.

Abstract

In this paper, ferroelectric-ferrimagnetic ceramic composites based on multicomponent PZT-type (PbZr_1-xTi_xO₃-type) material and ferrite material with different percentages in composite compositions were obtained and studied. The ferroelectric component of the composite was a perovskite ceramic material with the chemical formula Pb_0.97Bi_0.02(Zr_0.51Ti_0.49)_0.98(Nb_2/3Mn_1/3)_0.02O₃ (P), whereas the magnetic component was nickel-zinc ferrite with the chemical formula Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄ (F). The process of sintering the composite compounds was carried out by the free sintering method. Six ferroelectric-ferrimagnetic ceramic P-F composite compounds were designed and obtained with different percentages of its components, i.e., 90/10 (P90-F10), 85/15 (P85-F15), 80/20 (P80-F20), 60/40 (P60-F40), 40/60 (P40-F60), and 20/80 (P20-F80). X-ray diffraction patterns, microstructural, ferroelectric, dielectric, magnetic properties, and DC electrical conductivity of the composite materials were investigated. In this study, two techniques were used to image the microstructure of P-F composite samples: SB (detection of the signals from the secondary and backscattered electron detectors) and BSE (detection of backscattered electrons), which allowed accurate visualization of the presence and distribution of the magnetic and ferroelectric component in the volume of the composite samples. The studies have shown that at room temperature, the ceramic composite samples exhibit good magnetic and electrical properties. The best set of physical properties and performance of composite compositions have ceramic samples with a dominant phase of ferroelectric component and a small amount of the ferrite component (P90-F10). Such a composition retains the high ferroelectric properties of the ferroelectric component in the composite while also acquiring magnetic properties. These properties can be prospectively used in new types of memory and electromagnetic converters.

Keywords: ferrites; ferroelelectromagnetics; multiferroic composites; multiferroics; piezoelectrics.