Citation :

Akhilesh Dwivedi, Hamza Mustapha Umar, Gulzar Ahmed, Jitendra Vaswani, Priyanshi Varshney, "Enhanced Structural and Magnetic Properties of ABS5 Compared to AAS5 and ACS5: A Combined XRD, SEM, and VSM Study," International Journal of Material Science and Engineering, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 1-9, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23948884/IJMSE-V12I2P101

Abstract

Spinel ferrite nanostructures have attracted considerable attention due to their tunable structural and magnetic characteristics, yet direct comparisons across closely related synthesis variants remain limited in the literature. This study presents a systematic, multi-technique characterization of three nanostructured ferrite variants, AAS5, ABS5, and ACS5, synthesized under progressively modified conditions, using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM). Scherrer analysis revealed that ABS5 exhibits a mean crystallite size of 29.89 nm, which is 29.1% larger than that of AAS5 (23.15 nm), accompanied by a 17.1% reduction in mean lattice microstrain (3.35 × 10⁻³ vs. 4.04 × 10⁻³) and a 28.7% decrease in dislocation density (1.677 × 10⁻³ nm⁻² vs. 2.351 × 10⁻³ nm⁻²). These findings were independently confirmed through Williamson–Hall analysis. VSM measurements across three ferrite compounds, cobalt, copper, and zinc ferrite, demonstrated compound-specific magnetic responses that can be interpreted through established structure–property relationships. Notably, ABS5 copper ferrite achieved the highest saturation magnetization (Mₛ = 25 emu g⁻¹) and the lowest coercivity (H = 750 Oe) among the three variants, consistent with predictions based on reduced defect density and improved crystallinity. ACS5 cobalt ferrite attained the highest saturation magnetization (Mₛ = 75 emu g⁻¹), making it well-suited for hard-magnetic applications. Collectively, the structural, morphological, and magnetic data establish ABS5 as the magnetically softest and structurally most ordered of the three materials, with promising potential in soft-magnetic devices, microwave-absorbing composites, and functional nanomaterial platforms. The analytical methodology integrating Scherrer, Williamson–Hall, SEM, and VSM with cross-validation provides a transferable framework for characterizing nanostructured magnetic material systems.

Keywords

Spinel Ferrite, Nanostructured Magnetic Materials, X-Ray Diffraction, Scherrer Equation, Williamson-Hall Analysis, Vibrating Sample Magnetometry, Crystallite Size, Microstrain, Dislocation Density, Structure-Property Relationship.

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