Synthesis of nanostructured material by mechanical milling and study on structural property modifications in Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4

Mechanical milling induced structural property modifications in Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 spinel ferrite have been studied. We have observed two interesting phenomena (i) “temperature diffuse scattering” due to displacement of atoms from their mean position and (ii) appearance and gradual evolution of (4 2 0) plane in X-ray diffraction profiles and increase in average percentage disagreement between observed and calculated intensity ratios value, due to “preferred grain orientation.” Both these effects get prominent with milling time. The X-ray diffraction line intensity calculations revealed large B-site occupancy of Zn2+-ions, mainly due to modified synthesis procedure employed. The grain orientation factor increases from 10.6% to 18.1% on milling. It is found that milling has marked influence on various parameters: lattice constant, grain size, stress–strain, surface area and energy.