STRUCTURAL AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF Co-Nd SUBSTITUTED ZnFe2O4 FERRITES SYNTHESIZED BY CO-PRECIPITATION TECHNIQUE

A series of Zn1-xCoxNdyFe2-yO4 spinel ferrites (x=0,0-0.5, y=0.00-0.10) was synthesized using the co-precipitation method sintered at 1000 o C. Synthesized Ferrites were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometery (VSM). The diffraction patterns show the formation of the spinel phase along with some traces of second phase Nd2O3. The lattice constant decreases with increasing Co-Nd ions because of the solubility of Nd 3+ into the spinel lattice. SEM shows the decrease of the grain size with the increase of Co-Nd contents due to the fact that the second phase inhibits the growth of grain. VSM results show increasing trends of remanence and saturation magnetization due to the strengthening of the A-B sublattice interactions. The coercivity shows an increasing behaviour with the increase of co-substitutent contents.