Impact of Nd3+ Substitutions on the Structure and Magnetic Properties of Nanostructured SrFe12O19 Hexaferrite

In this study, SrFe12-xNdxO19, where x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5, was prepared using high-energy ball milling. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Using the XRD results, a comparative analysis of crystallite sizes of the prepared powders was carried out by different methods (models) such as the Scherrer, Williamson-Hall (W-H), Halder-Wagner (H-W), and size-strain plot (SSP) method. All the studied methods prove that the average nanocrystallite size of the prepared samples increases by increasing the Nd concentration. The H-W and SSP methods are more accurate than the Scherer or W-H methods, suggesting that these methods are more suitable for analyzing the XRD spectra obtained in this study. The specific saturation magnetization (σs), the effective anisotropy constant (Keff), the field of magnetocrystalline anisotropy (Ha), and the field of shape anisotropy (Hd) for SrFe12-xNdxO19 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) powders were calculated. The coercivity (Hc) increases (about 9% at x = 0.4) with an increasing degree of substitution of Fe3+ by Nd3+, which is one of the main parameters for manufacturing permanent magnets.