Magnetic properties and microstructures of a Ni-Zn ferrite ceramics co-doped with V2O5 and MnCO3

The present work investigated the effect of the addition of V2O5 and MnCO3 on the microstructure and magnetic properties of Ni-Zn ferrite ceramic samples prepared by a conventional ceramic sintering method at different temperatures. With this aim, a series of samples were prepared by varying the loadings of V2O5-MnCO3 (un-doped, 0.4–0.1 wt%, 0.1–0.4 wt%, 0.2–0.3 wt%, 0.3–0.2 wt%, and 0.5–0.1 wt%, denoted as sample 1, sample 2, sample 3, sample 4, sample 5, and sample 6, respectively). The initial permeability and power loss of the different Ni-Zn ferrites were investigated with respect to the sintering temperature. The V2O5 and MnCO3 dopants significantly improved the initial permeability and power loss characteristics of the Ni-Zn ferrite at frequencies ≥0.5 MHz. When sintered at 1100 °C, sample 2 showed a maximum initial permeability of 931.23 H/m at a frequency of 1 MHz combined with a minimum power loss of 339.2 kW/m3. Co-doping with V2O5 and MnCO3 also resulted in the sintered samples with larger average grain sizes and higher density, while the sintering temperature of Ni-Zn ferrites was significantly reduced.