Structural and Magnetic Properties of Nano Cu-Zn-Zr Ferrite for Magnetic Temperature Transducer (MTT)

Cu1-xZnx+yZryFe2-2yO4 (Cu-Zn-Zr ferrite) series of compositions with x= (zero, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1) when y= (0.05, and 0.1) nanoparticles were synthesized using citrate sol-gel method. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Lattice parameter, bulk density, theoretical density, and porosity were measured for (Cu-Zn-Zr ferrite) samples. The XRD pattern indicated that the average crystallite size found from 18-30 nm and from 17-24 nm, while the average particle size from TEM images are ranging from 21-39 nm and from 18-24 nm for y= (0.05 and 0.1) respectively. Magnetic hysteresis loop measurements illustrate that materials exhibit as soft ferrite properties at low Zn content, while at higher Zn content all materials behave as superparamagnetic materials without any saturation magnetization Ms. The initial magnetic permeability (µi ) at two frequencies 1 KHz and 10 KHz as a function of temperature was measured. A sudden change in µi appear around Curie temperature, making our samples good candidates for Magnetic Temperature Transducer (MTT) devices.