Characterization of Magnetic and Magnetoelectric Properties in Soft Ferrite-PFT-PT Bulk Composite

Abstract

The magnetoelectric effect in multiferroic materials is widely studied for its fundamental interest and practical applications. The magnetoelectric effect observed for single-phase materials like Cr₂O₃, BiFeO₃, and Pb(Fe_0.5Nb_0.5)O₃ is usually small. A much larger effect can be obtained in composites consisting of magnetostrictive and piezoelectric phases. This paper investigates the magnetoelectric properties of nickel ferrite Ni_0,3Zn_0.62Cu_0.08Fe₂O₄ - relaxor Pb(Fe_0.5Ta_0.5)O₃–PbTiO₃ bulk composite. The magnetic properties of the composite show a dependence typical of such materials, i.e., it consists of a dominating signal from the ferrimagnetic phase (ferrite) and a weak signal from the paramagnetic (antiferromagnetic) phase (relaxor). The magnetoelectric effect at room temperature was investigated as a function of a static magnetic field (300–6500 Oe) and frequency (10 Hz–10 kHz) of a sinusoidally modulated magnetic field. The magnetoelectric effect increases slightly before reaching a maximum at HDC = 750 Oe and then decreases.