Magnetic properties of Sm-doped M-type barium ferrite by high-energy ball mill-assisted solid-phase reaction method

The primary objective of this study is to enhance the overall magnetic properties of pure barium ferrite through the addition of trace amounts of the light rare earth element Sm. This approach is more cost-effective compared to using heavy rare earth elements. The M-shaped barium ferrite, denoted as Ba1-xSmxFe12O19, was synthesized using a combination of solid-phase sintering method and high-energy ball milling. The high purity of samples was confirmed by determining their crystal structure using XRD. The internal structure of samples was examined using FTIR, and it was observed that the samples contained tetrahedral and octahedral clusters with corre-sponding bands at 599 cm-1 and 445 cm-1, respectively. The appearance of samples was examined using FESEM, and it was found that grains had hexagonal structures. EDS was used to characterize the elemental content of samples, and it was found that the content of Ba decreased with an increase in the content of Sm. The magnetic properties of samples were examined using VSM, and the coercivity reached a maximum value of 3096.22 Oe at a dopant fraction of 0.06, and the saturation magnetization reached a maximum value of 73.115 emu/g. The synthesized material has the potential for utilization in magnetic recording applications.