Physica B 407 (2012) 3274–3277

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Physica B
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Electromagnetic properties of lithium zinc ferrites doped with aluminum

M.S. Ruiz, S.E. Jacobo n
Facultad de Ingenierı́a, LAMACEL-INTECIN, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Paseo Colón 850, 1063 Buenos Aires, Argentina

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 8 January 2012 We present the results of the effect of Al substitution on the magnetic and electrical properties of
Keywords: Li0.2Zn0.6Fe2.2  xAlxO4 ferrites (0.0 r x r 0.5) prepared by the standard ceramic technique. The char-
Ferrite acterization has been performed using XRD, SEM, magnetic and dielectric response in frequency. XRD
Microwave absorber analysis confirms that the system exhibits polycrystalline single phase cubic spinel structure only for
Electromagnetic property low dopant content. Doping decreases the dielectric loss tangent and the ferrite conductivity in more
than two orders of magnitude in the whole analyzed frequency range. Attenuation has a maximum
intensity (86 dB) near 90 MHz for x ¼ 0.4. The wider bandwidth at 20 dB (94.6 MHz) is for x¼ 0.3.
& 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 2. Experimental

Microwave technology is moving up to higher frequencies and
higher bandwidths, into the mm wave range, up to 100 GHz.
Nonconducting materials are essential to ensure total penetration
of electromagnetic fields. Ferrimagnetic oxides of iron combine
the properties of a magnetic material with that of an electrical
insulator. Ferrite elements are widely used in microwave devices,
isolators, circulators, phase shifters. For applications, requiring
nonreciprocal operation, as in circulators and isolators, there is no
alternative to magnetic devices. Due to the very high specific
resistance, remarkable flexibility in tailoring the magnetic proper-
ties, ease of preparation, and, last but not the least, price and
performance considerations make ferrites the first choice materi-
als for microwave applications. However, the frequency range of
operation, the power handling capacity and the temperature
sensitivity of ferrite devices should be improved [1].
Li-Zn and substituted Li-Zn ferrites have been found to be
excellent materials in permanent magnets, high-density record-
ing media, absorbers and microwave devices due to their low
costs, high resistivity and low eddy current loss [1–3]. To obtain
good quality Li-Zn ferrites, various methods have been used to
prepare them [4] and a large amount of works have been done to
modify the magnetic parameters of Li-Zn ferrites by substituting
Fe3 þ with other cations, such as Ti, Cu, Co, Ni, Mg, Mn, Co and so
on [5,6].
In this paper we report the structural and electromagnetic
properties of aluminum substituted lithium zinc ferrites. To our
knowledge there have been no results of these systems.
n ing that this is a unique cubic spinel phase. No characteristic
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sjacobo@fi.uba.ar (S.E. Jacobo).
Samples of substituted Li-Zn ferrites with the stoichiometric
formula Li0.2Zn0.6Fe2.2 xAlxO4 (x¼0.0 to 0.5 in steps of 0.1) were
prepared by the conventional ceramic technique. The starting
materials were AR grade Li2CO3, Fe2O3, ZnO and Al2O3. Appropriate
amounts of these materials were ground and mixed thoroughly.
The resultant mixtures were calcined at 1100 1C for 4 h in air
atmosphere. The resulting powder was further ground and pressed
in the form of pellets and toroids with an applied pressure of
6 t/cm2 using a small amount of PVA as binder. The final sintering
was carried out at 1100 1C for 10 h. The heating and cooling rates
were controlled at 5 1C/min. The structural characterization of
samples was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD Rigaku, step
size¼0.021) using CuKa radiation (l ¼1.5406 Å). The lattice para-
meters and crystal size were obtained by using PCPDFWINs
software. Experimental densities were calculated by geometry
and compared with X-ray densities, obtaining the values corre-
sponding of porosity. Samples morphology was characterized by
SEM (DSM 982 Gemini, Zeizz). Dielectric and magnetic measure-
ments were performed with an HP 4291 A impedance/material
analyzer in the frequency range 1 MHz–1.8 GHz.
3. Results and discussion
Fig. 1 shows the X-ray diffraction patterns of Li0.2Zn0.6Fe2.2  x
AlxO4 (0.0rx r0.5). For 0.0rx o0.2, all peaks can be indexed to
the standard patterns reported by the Joint Committee on Powder
Diffraction Standards (JCPDS) for single-phase cubic spinel
Li0.2Zn0.6Fe2.2O4 (file no: PDF #9974), space group Fd3m, indicat-
peaks of impurities are detected in the patterns.

0921-4526/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.physb.2011.12.085