Effect of Ratio in Ammonium Nitrate on the Structural, Microstructural, Magnetic, and AC Conductivity Properties of BaFe(12)O(19)

This paper investigates the effect of the ratio of ammonium nitrate (AN) on the structural, microstructural, magnetic, and alternating current (AC) conductivity properties of barium hexaferrite (BaFe(12)O(19)). The BaFe(12)O(19) were prepared by using the salt melt method. The samples were synthesized using different powder-to-salt weight ratio variations (1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 and 1:7) of BaCO(3) + Fe(2)O(3) and ammonium nitrate salt. The NH(4)NO(3) was melted on a hot plate at 170 °C. A mixture of BaCO(3) and Fe(2)O(3) were added into the NH(4)NO(3) melt solution and stirred for several hours using a magnetic stirrer under a controlled temperature of 170 °C. The heating temperature was then increased up to 260 °C for 24 hr to produce an ash powder. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) results show the intense peak of BaFe(12)O(19) for all the samples and the presence of a small amount of the impurity Fe(2)O(3) in the samples, at a ratio of 1:5 and 1:6. From the Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectra, the band appears at 542.71 [Formula: see text] and 432.48 [Formula: see text] , which corresponding to metal–oxygen bending and the vibration of the octahedral sites of BaFe(12)O(19). The field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) images show that the grains of the samples appear to stick each other and agglomerate at different masses throughout the image with the grain size 5.26, 5.88, 6.14, 6.22, and 6.18 µm for the ratios 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6, and 1:7 respectively. From the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis, the magnetic properties of the sample ratio at 1:3 show the highest value of coercivity H(c) of 1317 Oe, a saturation magnetization M(s) of 91 emu/g, and a remnant M(r) of 44 emu/g, respectively. As the temperature rises, the AC conductivity is increases with an increase in frequency.