The influence of reactive milling on the structure and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline MnFe2O4

Nanocrystalline manganese ferrites (MnFe2O4) have been synthesized by direct milling of metallic manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe) powders in distilled water (H2O). In order to overcome the limitation of wet milling, dry milling procedure has also been utilized to reduce crystallite size. The effects of milling time on the formation and crystallite size of wet milled MnFe2O4 nanoparticles have been investigated. It has been observed that single phase 18.4 nm nanocrystalline MnFe2O4 is obtained after 24 h milling at 400 rpm. Further milling caused deformation of the structure as well as increased crystallite size. With the aim of reducing the crystallite size of 18.4 nm, MnFe2O4 sample dry milling has been implemented for 2 and 4 h at 300 rpm. As a result, the crystallite size has been reduced to 12.4 and 8.7 nm, respectively. Effects of the crystalline sizes on magnetic properties were also investigated. Magnetization results clearly demonstrated that crystallite size has much more effect on the magnetic properties than average particle size.