Structure and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline PrCo3

TL;DR

This study investigates the structure and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline PrCo3, revealing high coercivity and uniaxial anisotropy, with implications for permanent magnet applications, supported by experimental and micromagnetic simulations.

Contribution

It provides detailed structural and magnetic characterization of nanocrystalline PrCo3 and combines experimental results with micromagnetic modeling to understand microstructure effects.

Findings

Curie temperature is 349 K.

High coercive field of 55 kOe at 10 K.

Nanocrystalline PrCo3 shows potential for permanent magnets.

Abstract

The structure and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline PrCo$_3$ prepared by high-energy milling technique have been investigated by means of X-ray diffraction using the Rietveld method coupled to Curie temperature and magnetic measurements. The as-milled samples were subsequently annealed in temperature range from 750 to 1050 {\deg}C for 30 min to optimize the extrinsic properties. From x-ray studies of magnetic aligned samples, the magnetic anisotropy of this compounds is found uniaxial. The Curie temperature is 349 {\deg}K and no saturation reached at room temperature for applied field of 90 kOe. The coercive field of 55 kOe and 12 kOe measured at 10 and 293 K respectively is obtained after annealing at 750 {\deg}C for 30 min suggests that nanocrystalline PrCo$_3$ are interesting candidates in the field of permanent magnets. We have completed this experimental study by simulations in the micromagnetic framework in order to get a qualitative picture of the microstructure effect on the macroscopic magnetization curve. From this simple model calculation, we can suggest that the after annealing the system behaves as magnetically hard crystallites embedded in a weakly magnetized amorphous matrix. PACS : 75.50.Bb, 75.50.Tt, 76.80.+y