Magnetic structure at γ-Fe2O3-organic interfaces

The effect of an organic coating on the magnetic properties of γ-Fe2O3particles has been studied using Mössbauer absorption, infrared absorption, and magnetization measurements; particular emphasis has been placed on the magnetic structure at the γ-Fe2O3- organic interfaces. Experiments were performed on fine γ-Fe2O3particles (≈ 300 Å) and also on conventional micron-size acicular γ-Fe2O3particles. The presence of a coating was confirmed by infrared-absorption spectra and by somewhat reduced saturation magnetizations. Although some increase in coercivity is observed for micron-size samples, the origin of this increase is suggested to lie in the change in packing factor when the nonmagentic organic materials are introduced. No substantial increase in coercivity is observed for coated fine particles. Mössbauer analyses have revealed that the surface magnetic structure of the pigment is unchanged by the organic coatings; neither a magnetically "dead" layer nor a pinned structure is formed. It appears that some effects reported for nonmagnetic coatings earlier may be secondary ones.     

High-field magnetism in non-polar γ-Fe2O3recording particles

Fine γ-Fe2O3particles produced by a process which involves hydrothermal conversion of iron hydroxides to α-Fe2O3have been investigated. Such particles appear to lack pores or dentrites which cause internal magnetic poles, and exhibit superior properties for magnetic recording. Mössbauer spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and transmission electron-microscopy were used. The particles were of length 250-500 nm and width 35-50 nm; some samples had cobalt adsorbed onto the surface. Mössbauer spectra were collected at temperatures from 4.2 to 300 K, and in zero and 5 T applied magnetic fields. In general the patterns are typical of bulk γ-Fe2O3. The 300 K spectra of Co-doped samples show sub-patterns of weak intensity associated with at least two distinct additional components with reduced splitting. One of these has Bhf= 45.2(2) T; its origin is suggested to be iron-atoms lying in or close to the cobalt-modified surface. In a 5 T field, the iron-atom moments deviate from the applied field direction by average angles in the range 13-15°. Because the angle for conventional similarly sized γ-Fe2O3issim 13deg, it is concluded that the improved particle morphology does not lead to an improvement in the high-field alignment.     

Magnetization of a two-component Stoner-Wohlfarth particle

The free energy of an arbitrary two-component Stoner-Wohlfarth particle is derived and general criteria for stable states of magnetization are established. Hysteretic properties of coaxial prolate spheroids composed of γ-Fe2O3coated iron particles are calculated numerically and the specific extension to epitaxial cobalt ferrite γ-Fe2O3particles amongst other two-component systems is indicated.     

On the microstructure and magnetization process of γ-Fe2O3

Experimental evidence is reported for γ-Fe2O3single particles being made up of several microcrystals chained together and their boundaries being sources of demagnetizing fields. This leads to a very defined picture of the magnetization reversal in partially alligned γ-Fe2O3particles: rotation is incoherent but the magnetization vectors are scattered in such a way that Hcivs. angle Ψ (between the orientation direction and the applied field) does not follow the known magnetization reversal modes. The importance of the reduction temperature in the process: α-FeOOHunderrightarrow{red.}Fe3O4underrightarrow{ox.}γ-Fe2O3becomes extremely important if considered as the parameter which rules the pore closure within the particles, i.e. the size and number of microcrystals chained in a single particle.     

Simultaneous substitution of Co2+and Zn2+ions in submicronic acicular γ - Fe2O3particles

In iron sesquioxide of acicular shaded γ-Fe2O3simultaneous substitution of Co²⁺and Zn²⁺ions leads to the formation of mixed-defect ferrites and modulation of magnetic properties is of interest for their application to high density magnetic recording. It is shown that the coercive force, remanent magnetization and saturation-magnetization are controlled by a judicious choice of the contents of Co²⁺and Zn²⁺, while it is indispensable to optimize the morphological features like the average size of the crystallites, the shape, the size and texture of the particles. A high value of coercive force (650-700 Oe) and of the remanent magnetization (35-45 emu/g) had been obtained with a minimal content of cobalt ions (Co²⁺= 2.5 to 3% by wt.) permitting limits to the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of these compounds and their thermal variation near the ambient temperature. The influence of the zinc content had been systematically studied notably in relation to its effect on the structural, morphological and magnetic properties of the ferrites.     

On the behaviour of the rheological and magnetic parameters of densified γ-Fe2O3

Magnetic characteristics (coercivity, remanent coercivity, remanence/saturation ratio, coercivity factor) and rheological properties (tap density, apparent density and wettability) for a number of γ-Fe2O3samples are analyzed. The samples are the following: I. γ-Fe2O3produced from densified α-FeOOH at various densification times; II. Densified γ-Fe2O3withdrawn from the densifier at different densification times; III. Densified and non-densified materials available on the market. The magnetic data as a function of the densification degree (i.e. vs. apparent density) confirm the increase of interactions and the re-assembling of the loose particles in a distribution of single particles, sheaf and ring shaped clusters. The wettability of the I samples is largely different from that of II samples; an hypothesis is made: densification produces a rough cleaning of the particles surface thus bringing out the reactive sites of the surface that can therefore be easily wetted out. Samples III confirm this hypothesis.     

Pressure-induced signal loss in Fe3O4and γ-Fe2O3thin film disks

Pressure-induced signal loss in Fe3O4and γ-Fe2O3thin film disks has been investigated. Through gauzes, pressure of 20 to 500 g/cm²were applied to the surface of a disk rotating 300 revolutions per minute (rpm). The result was extremely large signal losses of 40 to 90 percent. Several types of losses characteristic of ferrite surfaces were observed: initial loss, subsequent loss, and steady loss. These phenomena were consistently explained by a model that shows that the removal of a small amount of unstable surface crystallites by pressure reduces the leakage flux density. Wiping the rotating disk surface with gauze at a pressure of about 1000 g/cm²was effective in reducing the loss. It was confirmed that Ti doped γ-Fe2O3thin films prepared from α-Fe2O3show better resistance to pressure than do Fe3O4and other γ-Fe2O3films. Surface lubrication of the medium was also confirmed to be effective in reducing the loss. Contact-start-stop (CSS) induced signal loss and the possibility of pressure-induced missing signal errors due to thin film pinholes were also examined for typical γ-Fe2O3thin film disks.     

Correlation between magnetic and electroacoustic parameters of audio magnetic tapes

Coercivity, squareness, remanent coercivity, coercivity factor, rotational hysteresis loss and its integral were measured on two sets of tapes (γ-Fe2O3and crO2) and related to their electroacoustic performances. The static magnetic measurements explain some of the properties of the particulate media: it was found that while CrO2rotates either coherently or incoherently depending on the direction of the applied field, γ-Fe2O3rotates incoherently, and the departure from the model of "fanning chain of spheres" can be related to the imperfections of the particles which are sources of demagnetizing fields. Good agreement with audio performance is found not only for parameters like coercivity and squareness, whose role is well known, but also with the other static parameters which were previously disregarded as ruling analogue recording.     

A magnetic recording tape based on iron particles

Tapes based on acicular iron particles give an outstanding recording performance compared to γ-Fe2O3and CrO2tapes. Especially in the short wavelength region the signal to noise ratio is, respectively, 12 and 7 dB better, whereas the bias noise level is somewhat lower. The iron tapes have a high coercivity, between 80 and90 times 10^{3}A/m, and hence the required bias is about 9 dB higher than for γ-Fe2O3. The print through properties are excellent.     

Alternating and rotational hysteresis losses of γ-Fe2O3powders in a nonmagnetic matrix

Some aspects of the alternating and rotational hysteresis losses of very diluted samples of γ-Fe2O3particles are examined. The packing fractionpof the particles ranges from 0.001 to 0.120. The coercive force is found to be independent ofp. The alternating and rotational hysteresis losses appear dependent uponpforp < 0.04; the rotational losses increase considerably aspapproaches zero. The values of the rotational hysteresis integral are close to the theoretical ones corresponding to the model of magnetization reversal of chain of spheres with fanning, but they increase slightly with decreasingpforp < 0.04. Generally, the ratio of rotational to alternating losses is about twice that for bulk materials. All these effects are ascribed to a weakening of the magnetic interactions among particles.     

Influence of reduction temperature on coercivities, coercivity factors and rheological properties of γ-Fe2O3and silica coated γ-Fe2O3

The transformation of α-FeOOH into γ-Fe2O3via Fe3O4is studied in order to determine the influence of the reduction temperature on the magnetic and rheological properties of the final product. The study was carried out both on pure and on silica coated α-FeOOH. It was found that the reduction temperature at which a maximum of coercivity is obtained, varies with particle size, and it is much higher for silica coated samples which also show higher coercivity at the optimum reduction temperature. Coercivity factors (CF percent) and Mr/Ms values are also dependent on particle size. It is shown that coating with silica enables the reduction to be carried out at higher temperatures without significant collapse of the acicular shape.     

Grain-size dependence of anhysteresis in iron oxide micropowders

The low-field anhysteresis of small equidimensional multidomain particles of Fe3O4is found to be surprisingly large. For particle sizes below about 0.075 μm the anhysteretic susceptibility equals or surpasses that of elongated or doped equidimensional single-domain γFe2O3particles used in conventional recording tapes.     

Origin of coercivity changes during the oxidation of Fe3O4to γ-Fe2O3

Oxidation kinetics and x-ray diffraction of the intermediate products have been investigated for several kinds of Fe3O4powders during the oxidation to γFe2O3. From these results, a two-components-hypothesis as an intermediate state of the Fe3O4- γFe2O3system is proposed, instead of a homogenious solid solution which has been widely recognized. The effect of the changes in particle size caused by the two phases oxidation products on the variations of magnetic coercivity was emphasised.     

Correlation of textural and surface properties with cobalt modification efficiencies of γ-Fe2O3

Cobalt modification of a number of commercial samples of γ-Fe2O3had been carried out by implementing the so-called "Epitaxial Process". The initial powder coercivities and specific surface areas of these samples ranged from 280-400 Oe and 12-30 m²/g, respectively. The cobalt modification efficiencies were found to range from 0-50, Oe/% Co. Textural properties (surface area and porosity) and surface chemistry of these samples were found to be responsible for the observed variation and an interesting correlation between cobalt efficiency and the degree of microporosity of these samples was obtained. For a given external surface area, the cobalt efficiency increased linearly with the degree of microporosity. The correlation obtained is explained in terms of induced conflict of anisotropies and improvement in particle morphology in view of the recent findings of Corradi, et. al.     

High gradient magnetic separation: Theory versus experiment

The experimental performance of a high gradient magnetic separator has been previously reported by other workers in some detail for a CuO/Al2O3slurry. Less detailed results were also reported for slurries of Mn2O3, Al, and α-Fe2O3particles with Al2O3representing a 20:1 range in particle sizes and a 200:1 range in magnetic susceptibility. Examination of these results indicates that many layers of particles build up on each filter fiber. Accordingly, in this paper we extend the original particle trajectory model for the calculation of filter performance, to include the build-up of multiple layers of particles on the fibers. Good agreement is obtained between the calculated recoveries and purities for all of the particles and the experimentally reported values using a filter packing efficiency and a mechanical trapping term, derived from the CuO data, as adjustable parameters.     

Mössbauer study of orientation of particles in magnetic recording tapes

Mössbauer spectrum method was applied on tapes prepared using γ-Fe2O3, cobalt-epitaxial iron oxides and Fe particles to estimate the direction of orientation of the particles in the tapes. The coercivity and the squareness of the tapes was in the range of about 340 to 1140 Oe and 0.82 to 0.86, respectively. The γ-ray was applied to the tapes from the direction of the tape travel and the direction perpendicular to the tape plane. The angle of the orientation of the particles in the tapes was 29 -34 degree from the direction of the tape travel. The direction of magnetic moment in remanent state determined by Mössbauer method nearly agreed with that determined by hysteresis measurement. In the remanent state, the degree of discrepancy between the direction of orientation of particles and the direction of magnetic moment in particles increased with decreasing coercivity. It was considered that the magnetic moment in particles with lower coercivity tended to be inclined to the direction of tape plane.     

High coercivity sputter-deposited maghemite thin-film disk

The fabrication and read-write characteristics of a high-coercivity sputter-deposited maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) thin-film disk medium is discussed. By employing a low sputtering gas pressure, severe internal strain is introduced into the films. This internal strain markedly increases coercivity. Furthermore, the films are composed of fine crystallites (300-400 Å in diameter), which result in extremely low media noise. A high coercivity (1060 Oe) γ- (Fe0.954Co0.02Ti0.02Cu0.015)2O3thin-film disk medium with a thickness of 0.095 μm exhibited superior read-write characteristics (e.g., a 2493 FRPM recording density D50and a 42 dB signal-to-noise ratio). These results show that sputter-deposited maghemite films have a promising potential for use as high-density disk media.     

On the texture of γFe2O3particles in magnetically and mechanically oriented magnetic tape

The degree of preferred orientation in magnetic recording tape was investigated by an X-ray pole figure technique and by measuring magnetic properties. Acicular γFe2O3particles dispersed in PVA film were oriented by mechanical stretching and magnetic orientation. The pole figures of these samples indicated the texture with [110] to the orientating direction. The degree of orientation in stretched film was much higher than in magnetically oriented film. Further, it was observed that the particles tend to align uniaxially in mechanical orientation, and biaxially in magnetic orientation.     

A contribution to the investigation of fine-particle solid solutions between cubic iron sesquioxide γFe2O3and cobalt ferrite CoFe2O4

The authors give the chemical, morphological, crystallographic, and magnetic properties of solid solutions between cubic iron sesquioxide γFe2O3and cobalt ferrite CoFe2O4obtained as fine particles by a new preparation method. This method gives the whole range of compositions and allows shifting of the magnetic and morphological features in a direction suitable for magnetic recording applications.     

CEMs and Faraday rotation study of γ-Fe2O3- Fe3O4films obtained by a new pyrolisis technique

Thin film iron oxides prepared by a new pyrolisis technique are studied by means of CEM spectroscopy and Faraday rotation measurements. It is shown that Fe3O4spinel oxides are obtained when the deposition is performed under Ar atmosphere. These spinel-ferrite films present an important magnetization component perpendicular to the film plane. It is also shown that the Fe3O4films are converted to γ-Fe2O3by oxidation in air while retaining a uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. We interpret this induced magnetic anisotropy as arising from a magnetoelastic coupling with the substrate. Faraday rotation hysteresis loops confirm the existence of a strong induced uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in these films.