Size Effects in Nano-phase Hard Magnetic Materials

This dissertation work was focused on the behavior of the hard magnetic materials in the nano-size and under confinement in special geometries. Three distinct systems have been examined carefully to see the effects of nano dimensions on the intrinsic and hard magnetic properties of these materials, namely Alnico thin films, Sm-Co and FePt nanoparticles. In our research work to study the spinodal decomposition of Alnico thin films prepared by sputtering on Si substrates, it has been discovered that Si diffuses into the films and gives rise to a new magnetically hard phase with TC=305°C. The phase formation occurs following the annealing at 900°C, which gave a room temperature coercivity 6.5 kOe. The maximum coercivity observed is approximately ten times larger than the bulk Alnico V value. The aim of the second project was to synthesize Sm-Co nanoparticles with high HC in the as-made state. During RT synthesis, 3.5 nm superparamagnetic SmCo5 nanoparticles have been successfully produced via the Cluster Beam Deposition (CBD) technique. Dispersion of the SmCo5 nanoparticles in a carbon matrix resulted in increase in both the coercivity and the blocking temperature. Room temperature coercivities as high as 12 kOe have been obtained for the first time in mono-layers of SmCo5 nanoparticles dispersed in C matrix. δM plots showed that the interactions in the sample with closed packed particles are of exchange type, which lead to a decrease the overall effective anisotropy and coercivity according to the random-anisotropy model. For the third project of this dissertation, single crystal FCT FePt nanocubes have been successfully produced by a CBD technique without the need of post annealing. The nanocubes have a uniform size distribution with an average size of 6.5 nm. At 1 Torr, the particles have the FCT structure with an order parameter of 0.5 and a RT coercivity of 2 kOe. Further annealing increased the particle size to 20 nm and the RT coercivity to 10.2 kOe with perfect chemical ordering. In addition to these nanocubes, micron size rods with the FCT structure have been observed near the cluster gun. SEM analysis showed that these rods consist of nanoparticles with 20 nm average size. The new phase formation in the Alnico systems is important in view of the recent "rare earth problem" and may lead to alternative to rare earth materials for the development of high performance magnets. FePt and SmCo5 nanoparticles have a potential for use in the development of future high-density magnetic recording media because of their high coercivity, good shape and very narrow size distribution.