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

In this paper, ferroelectric–ferrimagnetic ceramic composites based on multicomponent PZT-type (PbZr(1−x)Ti(x)O(3)-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(0.97)Bi(0.02)(Zr(0.51)Ti(0.49))(0.98)(Nb(2/3)Mn(1/3))(0.02)O(3) (P), whereas the magnetic component was nickel-zinc ferrite with the chemical formula Ni(0.5)Zn(0.5)Fe(2)O(4) (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.